North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley stepped into the role in January. 

Taking on the job would always be a large task, but particularly so at this time in history, following the height of the pandemic. 

The Wilmington native didn’t set out to be the state’s first openly gay cabinet member, but it’s also not something he’s trying to hide. 

“It is a part of who I am as a person. Just as being a first-generation college student and growing up in North Carolina, living on several programs that my department operated decades ago, not having health insurance,” Kinsley said. “All of these things help shape my view.”

In March, Kinsley joined several other states in asking the FDA to stop the practice of deferring blood donation for 90 days of gay and bisexual men given advancements in testing. 

“That is an unfortunate discriminatory practice that tells people their blood is less than, and that’s just not necessary in this situation,” he said.

He also didn’t imagine leading a state as it navigates the effects of a pandemic, but he gladly stepped into the role with high hopes of serving his home state.

“Frankly, there were long periods of time where in North Carolina and nationally being openly gay was an automatic disqualifier for public service. And when it wasn’t an enforced disqualifier, it was a suggested disqualified, so we have come so far in accepting people for who they are and supporting them, that I’m happy to think about how far we will go in the next several decades and look forward to it.”