First, please do not continue reading if you are not a registered voter! What YOU need to do is go register to vote and pray to GOD for forgiveness.
These are the 3 bills that make up Amendment One:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/HTML/S106v0.html
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/HTML/S514v3.html
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H777v0.pdf
This is THE ONLY THING THAT WILL CHANGE:
Constitutional changes
If approved, the proposed measure would amend Article 14 of the North Carolina Constitution by adding a new section:
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.
What supporters assume:
1) This will somehow deter people from being gay, and/or gays from trying to marry or be recognized in this state as such
2) That standing against liberal causes is going to get us back to the good old days (where minorities and women knew their places)
What opponents assume:
1) That benefits for unmarried couples will be lost; the language does not exist, so this is an especially bad assumption
2) That domestic violence laws will be weakened; this is also horribly untrue, and furthermore, this is one of those situations in which the courts should NOT have to always intervene
Questions I have?
1) Why make the language so vague? Some say: to prevent liberal activist judges from ''destroying a sacred instituion", but this wouldn't stop a conservative judge from pulling an Old Testament on us either
2) Since when did homosexuality, which is a choice people make, become on par with gender or race?
3) Where were all you people when President Obama was being disrespected by Gov. Brewer and Sarah Palin?
4) Why is acceptable for gays to have marches and protest for rights, but not okay for people to stand against that notion, based on the same level of conviction (you have the right to be wrong, but I'm wrong if I want what is right?)
Synopsis: I wholeheartedly stand against the act of homosexuality. Every gay person I know understands this. They also understand that me being about a lifestyle choice is mutually exclusive from the love I show. It's the same love I show to my drug addict friends, my alcohol friends, my Muslim friends, my atheist, pantheist and polytheist friends. Notice a pattern? I don't have to support what you choose to do, I don't have to like it. But God said to love you, and that's the only thing pertinent to me. There is already a law banning same sex marriage in our state, as well it should be. If everything else in North Carolina is acceptable, not being about to be a married gay person shouldn't really be an issue. The proposed amendment is clear in that it "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." So, to my gay friends, and to my unmarried friends, YOU DON'T NEED TO GET MARRIED TO PUT YOUR AFFAIRS IN WRITING! You can have a contract that binds property, medical care and care for children.
However, this bill is just written wrong. It's far too vague and leaves it far too vulnerable to liberal and conservative judges to hold people hostage to randomly interpretable laws. I say, strike it out and try again with better language. Both sides aren't seeing the clearer picture here, but an ambigious amendment, preceded by a law that already achieved the main affect, seems foolish.
