North Carolina polls are open for early voting in the primary election, and the rights of unmarried couples are being put to a public referendum.
I voted against North Carolina’s Amendment One, which seeks to amend the state constitution “to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in th[e] state.”
A recent Pew poll shows that nationally support for gay marriage is higher than ever —47 percent of Americans in favor of it; 43 percent opposing — but North Carolinians have tended to be less progressive on the issue. When Amendment One was introduced last September, public opinion polls reported that only 31 percent of North Carolinians were in favor of legalizing gay marriage, and 61 percent favored keeping it illegal.
The fate of the amendment to ban civil unions and gay marriage will be decided on May 8th, the official primary election day. Already at least one lawmaker, who played a critical role in getting the amendment on the ballot, has changed his mind about supporting it.
State Representative James Crawford was one of ten Democrats who supported putting the measure on the ballot. He has since said publicly he will vote against the amendment, it goes too far, amid impassioned outcries from constituents in the gay community.
Public opinion on the amendment is also changing, and advocates seeking to prevent the amendment’s passage are gaining ground. A new poll released last week shows:
- 53 percent of North Carolina voters support either marriage or civil unions for gay couples; 44 percent oppose the recognition of same-sex unions.
- 40 percent of North Carolina voters now report opposing the amendment, while 54 percent plan on supporting it.
However, support for same-sex unions does not directly align with opposition to the constitutional amendment, which may reflect voters’ confusion over what Amendment One actually does. Polls suggest that only 36 percent of North Carolina voters understand the amendment’s aim, which is to ban civil unions and gay marriages. Twenty-seven percent of those polled said outright they didn’t know what the amendment did; 26 percent thought the amendment would ban gay marriage only, and 10 percent thought it would legalize gay marriage.
Local religious leaders have come out on both sides of the debate. Michael Curry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese opposes the amendment, while Patrick Wooden, pastor of Raleigh’s Upper Room Church of God in Christ, supports it.
But even many local leaders, like Curry and Crawford, who are against the amendment, have skirted discussing the issue of equal marriage rights for all couples and focused instead on how the amendment might affect unmarried couples,’ including heterosexual couples in terms of child custody arrangements, medical decision-making, and health care coverage.
That’s not good enough, in my opinion.
The majority of today’s young people support gay marriage, and I am confident that history will look back on measures like Amendment One as bigotry, even if the North Carolina’s voting majority turns a blind eye to this type of legalized discrimination on May 8th.
Public officials are elected to represent their constituency, and public opinion around gay marriage is changing to favor justice and equality. It is high time for lawmakers, including North Carolina’s lawmakers, to reexamine their views and prejudices, to stop writing discriminatory laws, and offer thoughtful leadership and how the state can better support the equal rights of all people and all couples, including gay couples.
To learn more about activism against North Carolina’s Amendment One, click here.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy