The Anger Blog-Crucial Vote in North Carolina

The state of North Carolina will soon be voting (May 8th) on a controversial amendment that has been championed by the conservative Republican-led General Assembly. This "Amendment One" proposes that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized."

Due chiefly to the fact that most voters in the state are uninformed about what it really means, this amendment has a good chance of passing. Some polls show that as many as 90% of voters are not aware of the harmful consequences this constitutional change may have on the people of North Carolina.

Many people who currently support the amendment (including the homophobic community) have been led to believe that, if you vote against it, you are voting to legalize same-sex marriage. This is not the case at all. In fact, the amendment does not even include a ban on same-sex marriage, which is already illegal in North Carolina.

If Amendment One is passed, it will prohibit 'legal' recognition of unmarried couples, domestic partnerships, and civil unions involving heterosexual as well as same-sex partners. The resulting law will have injurious consequences that a majority of the voters currently do not realize but that may anger them when they do find out. For example, unmarried parents in committed relationships could lose their children's health care benefits. Widowed senior citizens who have again found love and/or companionship, but do not remarry in order to keep their deceased spouses' benefits (including Social Security, health care, pensions, etc.), may be impacted. Women may lose their protections from domestic violence, if they are not married to their partners. Municipal employees will lose all benefits that are now offered to domestic partners by many cities and counties throughout North Carolina, as it will, in that case, be lawful only for private companies to provide those benefits (if they decide to do so). And finally, the economy will suffer greatly because many individuals, as well as companies, will refuse to relocate to a state where they must deal with these negative consequences, including barriers to recruitment. Some businesses currently located in the state may choose to move elsewhere.

Why do these conservative legislatures continually try to drag us back to the early 20th century?