Breaking: North Carolina Passes Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage
Last edited Wed May 9, 2012, 02:54 AM - Edit history (2)
Source: AP / MSNBC
NC approves amendment on gay marriage
By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press – 5 minutes ago
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina voters have approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, making it the 30th state to adopt such a ban.
With 35 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, unofficial returns showed the amendment passing with about 58 percent of the vote to 42 percent against.
In the days before the vote, members of President Barack Obama's cabinet expressed support for gay marriage and former President Bill Clinton recorded phone messages urging voters to reject the amendment.
Meanwhile, supporters ran their own ad campaigns and church leaders urged Sunday congregations to vote for the amendment. The Rev. Billy Graham was featured in full-page newspaper ads supporting the amendment.
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMc52sVsFTFWWyrhx6CZZlko3Omg?docId=3e14159cd8044b958b3d26ef8e32c0d4
Oh, I am so proud of my idiot state tonight.
Unconstitutional AND bigoted to boot.
http://www.prop8trialtracker.com/2012/05/07/north-carolina-prop-8-backers-responsible-for-anti-gay-amendment-1s-broad-language/
North Carolina: Prop 8 backers Alliance Defense Fund responsible for anti-gay Amendment 1's broad language
May 7, 2012
By Scottie Thomaston
The language of North Carolina’s Amendment 1 – that the “only domestic legal union” that will be “valid or recognized” in North Carolina – is exceptionally broad and incredibly unclear. The ballot language is also unprecedented and undefined in North Carolina law. Since the proponents of the amendment went forward with the proposed amendment language, questions have been raised often about whether the amendment will eliminate protections against domestic violence for those in domestic partnerships. The statute relied upon in domestic violence cases uses a defined set of “recognize(d)” relationships. But the amendment clearly changes North Carolina law to only “recognize” one type of relationship: marriage between a man and a woman. And even research linked on the Vote For Marriage NC site – the website of the proponents – admits the amendment will ban civil unions and domestic partnerships. This will eliminate all the rights associated with currently existing domestic partnerships, including children’s health insurance.
It didn’t have to be this way:
This weekend, (NC House Majority Leader) Stam finally explained (why the amendment's language is so broad and unclear) to the Fayetteville Observer who reported it this way. Stam, the Raleigh lawmaker, said he wanted a more narrowly worded amendment but was “overruled” by “national experts” he identified as the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal advocacy group.
The Alliance Defense Fund is a leader in pushing anti-gay initiatives. They helped put Proposition 8 on the ballot. In fact, they fought to make Proposition 8′s language unclear:
[div class="excerpt"]Having lost its legal battle in May, the ADF has since redirected its efforts to guaranteeing Prop 8′s passage in November. Specifically, the group has attempted to finagle the initiative’s language, controlling how it will be read by voters at the ballot box. In early August, ADF lawyers filed an appeal with the court to reverse state Attorney General Jerry Brown’s decision that changed the words “limit on marriage” to “eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry” in Prop 8′s title. While the modification is much clearer as to the initiative’s true intent, ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco seemed to realize that such clearly worded language would turn off moderate voters. By arguing that “election ballot titles should be neutral and not intentionally prejudice voters,” while at the same time advocating for vaguer language, Infranco perhaps revealed his own suspicion that Prop 8 must be misrepresented in order to pass. However, the court denied the appeal, affirming Brown’s new wording.
And there is a reason for their desire to make the language as vague as possible:
[div class="excerpt"]The authors just don’t believe that same-sex marriage is wrong, they believe that it leads to “polygamy, endogamy(the marriage of blood relatives), bestiality and child marriage,” comments by the way that Stam himself made during the legislative debate last year.
MORE AT LINK
http://www.wral.com/news/political/page/10991843
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm also from the South. We have quite a bit of work to do to get our black and brown brothers and sisters to come aboard, but I do think things are slowly changing. I tell you that Cory Booker is a HERO for what he is doing in Newark to educate black clergy on this issue.
We must do our part as well. 
Note: There are people out there who will blame black Americans for the failure of the issue, but the black American population is so small. I hope that people will not scapegoat us.
At last count... 828000 voters who voted against the measure. And many of these people were straight no doubt. There are good, loving, people in North Carolina and they and all of us are still going to fight for you!
As expected. But sad and pointless in the long run. The tide is turning for us all.
Yeah for "state's rights" in regards to civil rights! 
That's gotta be hypocritical. Really, I've read stories about rural men who've been arrested for bestiality with cattle. Remember when Rick Santorum predicted that gay marriage would lead to bestiality and pedophilia? Well, those things already happen even in the more homophobic places in the country.
Similarly, 4 years ago in my state, this kind of amendment was put before voters (Proposition 8).
The "yes" voting counties are light blue, "no" dark blue. Notice how the yes counties are the rural ones and the no counties are usually some coastal counties and the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco city has a notable gay community).
