Those words are part of Article I, Section I of the North Carolina Constitution. If they sound familiar, it’s because they were modeled after their predecessor on the Federal level. In September of 2011, those words came under attack, when the NC Legislature voted to write discrimination into the very document that begins with the equality and rights of all persons.
Citizens of North Carolina, meet Amendment 1.
For many years, primaries in a presidential election year went unnoticed in North Carolina. In 2008, the Democratic Presidential race came right to our backyard. Now, four years later, our state is back in the national spotlight but for a very different reason. The voters of our state will get their chance to let their voice be heard on this Amendment.
This amendment is more than just an anti same-sex marriage amendment and stands to damage more than just the LGBTQ people living in North Carolina if it is passed.
Not only does this amendment ban same-sex marriages, but it also prohibits the recognition of any sort of domestic legal union outside of the bonds of heterosexual marriage. It has the potential to impact domestic violence protection for unmarried couples, child custody and visitation, end-of-life directives, and domestic partnership benefits for public employees.
A vote for such an amendment would in reality be a vote to completely erase the words that begin our state Constitution. I remain confident that you cannot erase those words. “All persons are created equal” will prevail.
The process of stripping people of their rights is part of a history that this country should be making strides to forget, not relive. In state after state across this country, the rights of a minority have been left up to a vote by the majority. We must not take this step. We must not make the journey down this road again.
The true sadness in all of this is that despite all of the facts listed previously; this Amendment will still be painted by those who will vote for it as an anti-gay marriage amendment. This is a hopeless scare tactic to shore up the vote from the religious right demographic.
Like skilled magicians, supporters of this amendment will seek to take the focus off of the real issue at hand with, and instead seek to paint homosexuals as boogie men that threaten traditional marriage.
The vote on May 8th isn’t about gay and straight, it’s about discrimination and equality, love and hate, hope and despair. The time for North Carolina voters is now. We must stand together and defeat discrimination. It is, and always has been; wrong to enshrine the denial of basic human rights into state law.
Equality is always right, love will always win and hope will never be silent.
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