In North Carolina, an urgent battle is underway to defeat Amendment One, an extreme measure which would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage there. It will appear on the ballot on MAY 8.
North Carolina is the most progressive state in the South. The concept of domestic union/partnership is popular within the majority of the population. Equality North Carolina has 23,000 members who are on board with defeating the measure and Protect All NC Families is leading the way. They do need financial support to continue their work. They have also launched an online store.
According to the group, 864 new donors have joined the campaign but they need to raise millions more in the next 21 days to take advantage of a new Elon poll which shows them WINNING if we expand the electorate.
The National Organization for Marriage jumped into the battle earlier this month.
Equality NC's Stuart Campbell recorded this video about the requirements of their campaign:
Help them out HERE if you so choose.
The NAACP and every major Democrat has came out in opposition to this amendment.
Attorney Ted Olson is heading to North Carolina to help defeat the amendment.
Karen Ocamb at LGBT POV reports:
During a brief interview after the West Coast Premier of Dustin Lance Black's play ‘8” about the district court trial that found Prop 8 unconstitutional, Olson noted how “opinions have shifted” considerably since Prop 8 was passed in California in 2008. He hopes more Republicans will support marriage equality and oppose measures such as Amendment One, which Olson noted, “wipes away the whole thing,” meaning all legal recognition of same sex relationships.
“I'm going to go down to North Carolina in April. There's a big rally down there. I'm going to go down and do my bit,” Olson said. “We want to win one. You heard the [Perry v Schwarzenegger Prop 8 trial] witness talk about how the outcome [of antigay ballot measures] is always against gay and lesbian people. It would be really great if we started changing that. And maybe North Carolina is a chance.”
J.J. Summerell (top photo), the NC Libertarian Party Chair, said the party opposes Amendment One, according to Protect NC Families:
“We oppose Amendment One simply because it's badly designed,” Summerell said in a video released today by Protect All NC Families, the official coalition effort to defeat Amendment One.
Summerell went on to explain how the amendment could harm millions of North Carolina families, women and children by potentially impacting contract agreements between individuals, stripping health care from children of unmarried couples and invalidating domestic violence laws meant to protect unmarried North Carolinians.
Amendment One, Summerell says, is “fraught with far-reaching, unintended consequences.”
Mike Munger (pictured, right), a professor at Duke University and the NC Libertarian Party's 2008 gubernatorial candidate, also made a video opposing the Amendment.
Watch them both, AFTER THE JUMP…
NBC17 reports on a Raleigh rally taking place TODAY:
HonestNC, a group of community organizers from N.C. State, will gather at Halifax Mall and march from the Bell Tower to the State Legislature on Thursday. The march begins at 11:00a.m. and HonestNC expects several thousand people to join the march protesting the proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage in North Carolina.
Watch Duke Political Science Professor Michael Munger and NC Libertarian Party Chair J.J. Summerell speak out in videos against Amendment One, AFTER THE JUMP…
