On May 8th, primary day for North Carolina voters, Marriage Amendment 1 was voted as law by a 61-39% margin. This further solidifies marriage in NC between one woman and one man. As an institution in place even before the Constitution, it will be significantly more difficult to falter from this concept in NC.
The ‘Opposition’ released huge amounts of false information on Amendment 1 just prior to the vote. These statements further exacerbated the false closeness of the vote. Statements about further discrimination against homosexuals, and voting for the Amendment ‘will eliminate rights for homosexuals’ were made. As a result, some people believed the best way to fight discrimination was to defeat Marriage Amendment 1.
Countless organizations supporting Amendment 1, have been successful in letting the NC populace know their vote was for no change in existing state law.
NC already states marriage is to be between a man and a woman. This Amendment only makes it much more difficult for activist judges to alter NC’s existing law disallowing gay marriage.
Per Rep. Paul Stam (Majority Leader/NC House)-no benefits from federal government can occur based on a domestic legal union, other than marriage. NC state government has never offered benefits for the unmarried, but nine of the 625 (.14%) local governments have. These counties and cities can possibly extend employment benefits for non-married domestic households.
Marriage is a privilege and sacrament to those who fit the necessary standards. An openness to children is one of those, which only a husband and wife can produce. A lifelong marriage commitment is necessary, as well.
In federal law, “marriage” means a legal union between only one man and one woman…” (1 U.S.C.
Marriage Amendment 1 will not adversely affect NC’s economy. A 2011 report by The American Legislative Exchange Council (2011) ranked states’ economic performance and outlook. 80% of the top 10 have marriage amendments. None has legalized same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships. 90% of those states with the poorest economic growth, have legalized same-sex marriages.
If same-sex marriage is called a ‘right’, then it will be extremely difficult to eliminate other types of ‘marriage’ clearly detrimental to society-such as polygamy, pedophilia marriages, or bestiality. Nothing in the Constitution requires same-sex unions be called “marriage.”
Equal protection is easily secured without granting a “right to marry.” In these cases same-sex couples may legally be recognized as partners with particular rights, but are not considered married. Unfortunately, unmarried couples have been attempting to acquire the same benefits as married heterosexual couples within the last 20 years.
In NC the Amendment passed by a smaller margin because of misinterpretation and misleading data provided by TV and radio adds. Opposition to Amendment 1 kept calling it ‘a ban on gay marriage’. The Amendment’s exact wording was: “marriage is between one man and one woman”. All public announcements for the Amendment completely discouraged any discrimination towards homosexuals. The non-existent words ‘gay marriage’ were never mentioned.