Tomorrow, North Carolina will vote on a draconian "Amendment 1" to its constitution that will not only outlaw marriage between same sex couples (which is already illegal there), but will outlaw civil unions and any sorts of rights shared by unmarried opposite couples. It is driven by vicious anti-gay rhetoric--not just the usual bleats about "saving marriage" but actual vicious lies about the lives and loves about gay people, and a desire to hurt us (see here, here, and here for examples.) And its effect will definitely be to deny gay people protections, hurt our children, as well as children and families of unmarried straights, elderly people with domestic partnerships, and so on. Business is against it, so is the governor.
From Joe.my.god, the final polls don't look good:
I don't know if the majority is ignorant, or uninterested, but it's pretty sad that with all the effort, the majority of people don't even know what the hell they are voting for.
…Constitutional amendments should be about law, not about religion, and not about the social agendas of conservative or liberal politicians. They should be solidly constructed to protect rights and weather the test of time, like cornerstones. They should stand for all the people. This one, instead, is bitterly divisive. Even one of its prominent backers, the speaker of the state House, has said he doubts that, if passed, it will stand beyond another generation.Amendment One meets none of the criteria by which a constitution can properly be modified. It is motivated by politics, driven in some cases by a vindictive attitude toward groups of people not approved of by those who believe themselves to be in the “mainstream.”
Marriage is far too strong an institution to have phony “protections” like this one.
Sadly, that falls on deaf ears in NC. The naked animus of Amendment One has been driven almost exclusively by fundamentalist "Christians", who invoke the most disgusting lies about gay people, may be racist, and advocate hitting gay children to "beat teh gay out of them". The damage they have done to the Christian "brand" is immeasurable. I can't imagine any young person in NC daring to tell his friends he's "Christian" when this is now burned on their brains as what "Christians" stand for.
As for me, if this passes, the most I'll be doing in North Carolina is changing planes. My rainbow dollars will be spent in places that don't actively hate me.
4 comments:
I suppose some would say you should have left the Golden State after PropH8 then, IT. [Just to play devil's advocate]
I lived in Michigan when they banned SSM in 2004 (and continued to live there until 2010): bitter, bitter, bitter.
I certainly would have understood those boycotting Michigan therefore, but I didn't advocate for such a boycott, either.
JCF, bitter pill that prop8 was, it did not eliminate domestic partnerships (the CA version of civil unions), endanger unmarried couples, or eliminate relationships between the elderly. It did not push children out of health care, or eliminate the insurance coverage for state employees' same sex partners.
DPs in California remain robust, and provide many protection to couples here. There will be NO such protections left for same sex couples in NC. This is a draconian, evil bill that would put North Carolina right up there next to Virginia for the depth of its enshrined hate.
And, since I have a choice about where I visit, I will do my best not to put any money of mine into the economy of either state of hate.
It's going to be bitter for the Democratic national convention in Charlotte. Then again, the Dems aren't really eager to come out fully for equality--perhaps if they had, they might have closed the gap in NC a bit more.
I think Michigan's initiative was like NC's (there are no CU or DP's there, either :-( ).
I prefer to think about "girlcotting" (i.e., favoring!) the states that HAVE marriage equality (or are at least making progress).
I agree that Amendment 1 is offensive and ill-advised. It makes me sick to my stomach.
With that said, I can't imagine that Amendment 1 will actual go into effect in North Carolina. It just won't pass muster. Someone will make a constitutional challenge to Amendment 1 the same day that it would take effect.
I'm even having a hard time seeing how the Roberts court can uphold an argument supporting this one.
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