I received the above as a tweet from our local television channel, which I started following long about the time of Hurricane Irene. This particular one caught my attention, as I had been asked if I would go down to the Assembly building and protest with everyone else; however I sprained my ankle yesterday and it hadn't healed yet.
As per WRAL,m which is our local TV station:
A quick look at how the North Carolina House voted Monday on the proposed constitutional amendment that would provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union recognized in the state.
The proposal was given final House approval 75-42. Seventy-two votes were needed for the proposed amendment to be approved.
Voting yes for the amendment were 65 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
According to
Newser, which appears to be a RW news outlet:
Holding the vote in May, as opposed to during the November general election, was a concession to Democrats who support the ban, but don’t want it drawing more social conservatives to the poll to vote against President Obama. But the date also essentially guarantees the referendum’s passage, since it’ll be mostly Republican primary voters at the polls. The vote comes in spite of a major lobbying effort by Equality NC, and a letter from 76 North Carolina CEOs opposing the referendum.
As per The News and Observer , which is our local newspaper's website:
Gay rights groups scheduled a midday rally on the mall behind the Legislative Building in Raleigh on Tuesday. The Senate was expected Tuesday to debate a measure approved Monday by the House that would send the constitutional question to voters in May.
Amendment opponents argue the question would discourage businesses from coming to North Carolina because of a perception that gays and lesbian employees aren't welcome and attempts to imprint discrimination into the constitution.
As per Towel Road:
A law professor warns its language is so vague that it could "invalidate domestic violence protections for members of unmarried couples, as an Ohio court did with even narrower language in its state’s marriage amendment." We never needed those anyway.
And look at how Republicans got it to the floor. They allegedly laundered it:
Senate leaders will start their debate on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex unions Monday afternoon. But they didn’t want anyone to know about it.
According to the public notices released today, the Senate Judiciary 1 committee will be meeting Monday on H61, “Speaker/Pro Tem Term Limits” - a proposal to limit the numbers of years House and Senate members can serve as leaders of their chambers.
But a new version of the bill leaked to WRAL Friday night shows the bill the committee will take up Monday has absolutely nothing to do with term limits. The new H61 is an amended version of the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
You can try to look it up at the legislature’s website, but you won’t find it there.
If it passes the senate, it goes to a referendum in 2012. At that point, it could bring droves of Republicans to the polls to vote against Obama, too. That's incidental, I'm sure.
If you have the stomach to watch/listen to it, here is Rep. Paul Stam discussing the Amendment with the American Family Association.