Daily Archives: May 9, 2012

…. Marriage is now defined as one man and one woman in North Carolina, as voters reject gay marriage in constitutional amendment 1.

The constitutional amendment was introduced by the Republican House once they gained a oft-sought-after majority in the State House during the 2010 elections. This was a feat not accomplished in North Carolina in 140 years. However the proposed amendment also enjoyed a majority in the State Senate, both of which approved the measure allowing it to be sent to the statewide ballot for a vote to either approve or reject the amendment by the people of the State of North Carolina. The State House approved the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban 75-42, and the Senate passed the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban in a vote of 30-16.

Finally, the North Carolina people approved the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban by a vote of 58% to 42%. These numbers are official but not complete, as that is with 35% of the precincts reporting, however it is enough to project that the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban will PASS by a very large measure.

This represents a huge victory for supporters of banning gay marriage, and a huge setback for gay-marriage supporters, as it further cements the opposition of the vast majority of Americans at large with their acceptance of gay marriage when it comes to voting on it. Additionally, the only way to overturn a constitutional amendment is to go through the constitutional amendment process a second time, and successfully win a second vote to repeal the measure. This essentially cements, permanently, gay marriage in the state of North Carolina for the forseeable future.

Here is how the Amendment 1 reads:

Sec. 6. Marriage.
Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State. This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.

Gay marriage was already banned in the state of North Carolina by law, with the legislating voting to ban gay marriage, but the constitutional amendment has now added language saying that marriage is defined ONLY as between one man and one woman, to the actual state constitution itself. This is the only way to ensure that law is written in stone, and cannot be overturned by the will of the legislature or the courts (Unless the United States Supreme Court were to vote in favor of gay marriage nation-wide, in a matter where the federal law trumped state law). In other words, the ban on gay marriage could not be lifted at a whim, and now will require SIGNIFICANT support in favor of gay marriage, with that support coming from a majority of both the people of the state and the state government, to overturn what has now been set in place.

Additionally, this constitutional amendment went much further than the previous law, and bans other types of marriage from being defined as “marriage”, including various types of domestic unions (closing the door on gay unions being recognized in any way as having the same rights as heterosexual marriage) and voiding other types of unions from having legal status. This could complicate some other matters in the state and disrupt protection orders for unmarried couples, for example.

Here is a video showing off those who were against Amendment 1 and the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban.

As you can imagine, this constitutional amendment gay marriage ban received heavy national interest from all parties that had a vested interest in the outcome or pushing the opinion of those with strong views either for or against. President Barack Obama’s cabinet voiced their support of gay marriage, and urged the people of the State of North Carolina to vote against the ballot; including Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Vice President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama, in the wake of the ballot’s passing, has voiced his displeasure with the ballot passing, saying he is “disappointed” in the outcome. Bill Clinton was opposed as were many other very loud voices. Opponents of the measure also held rallies and marches, public speeches, and ran TV ads against the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban, to the tune of $3 million. Among those who were against the measure included Jay Bakker, son of televangelists Jim Bakker and the late Tammy Faye Bakker.

However a great many were also for the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban and spent around $3 million campaigning in support. Including The Rev. Billy Graham, who featured a full-page newspaper ad supporting the amendment at age 93. Naturally, church leaders, pastors, Christian heavyweights voiced their support for the ballot, among others.

We’ll have to wait for official numbers to find out exactly how wide the divide was between supporters and opponents of the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban. Reportedly turnout was expected to be 2 million, which would eclipse the amount of voters who turned out in the state to vote during the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Proving that interest in voting for the ballot was extremely high and widespread.

Here is a video showing off those who were for Amendment 1 and the constitutional amendment gay marriage ban.

….. Wow look at that. I couldn’t even find a single video of support for Amendment 1 on youtube. As always, the silent majority spoke. It is always those who speak the loudest who think they got everything in the bag… despite the vast convergence of mass media against the ballot, it has now passed. It’ll be interesting to see whether this ballot’s passing effects additional states who may rise up to vote against gay marriage.