This is becoming a perfect storm V1.2

[yardwork]

7. I think it was planned, but my state and my rights got chewed up in the machine.

Polls indicated that North Carolina voters would pass the hate amendment outlawing not just equal marriage for gay people but all other non-marital relationships as well.

I believe that the Obama campaign made a carefully calculated strategic decision to leverage this loss. Their strategy worked. I'm glad it worked for them because I want Obama to be reelected.

As a gay North Carolinian, I can recognize and respect the successful strategy, but personally, it hurts like hell.

And, please, don't rush in and tell me how everything will be seashells and balloons when Obama is reelected. North Carolina probably won't overturn this constitutional amendment in my lifetime, and neither will most of the 40 other states that have constitutional amendments outlawing my relationship with another human being, which we consider sacred. The map will solidify with perhaps ten states recognizing the right of gay people to marry or have civil unions, and 40 states treating us like dirt. And that's the way it will remain for many years, as presidents and congresses come and go, until one day, maybe, the will of the people requires a federal remedy, as with the Civil Rights Movement and women's rights to privacy and family planning. The states' rights that Obama knows will help him get reelected aren't going to help me or millions of other Americans at all.