Wed 25 Feb 2009
Equality NC has been getting the word out online about the new anti-equality amendment being touted by the right-wing minority in NC’s legislature. Things I didn’t know until Equality NC pointed them out include:
- NC is the only Southern state without an anti-gay amendment
- Fundie state legislators are trying to gin up a fake “grassroots” movement by coercing local governments into passing statements calling for an amendment and encouraging fundamentalist ministers to speak favorably – from the pulpit – of the anti-gay amendment
Equality NC’s Kay Flamino makes an excellent point in her post about this: passing an anti-gay amendment would cost the state $3,000,000. What else could they do with that money?
The thing that freaks me out about this is that I’ve always, to be absolutely honest, kind of blithely assumed this sort of amendment would never happen in NC. Such things have been killed in the state legislature so many times that I just figured it would never stand a chance of happening here. NC is the only place I’ve ever lived and, in all honesty, the only place I’ve ever wanted to live. I really do not want to find out that my state doesn’t return that affection. I really do not want to find out that prejudice outweighs all the things The Boyf and I contribute to our community. I really do not want to find out that when I pay my taxes that I am picking up the tab for my own persecution.
After seeing Milk I said that I needed to get involved in activism again. Is this my issue? If so, what do I do?
I have to say I’m surprised, because I just assumed NC did in fact have an anti-gay amendment. Color me shocked!
What NC has is a “Defense of Marriage” law that is a statute but is not a part of the state constitution. Professional homophobes think that a law-but-not-amendment is too easy to have repealed or overturned in the courts. If they can get an amendment passed, no court case seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage will ever succeed because the courts merely weigh the constitutionality of statutes; they don’t decide what is or isn’t a good idea on principle.
At any rate, you’re half-right: gay marriage is illegal in NC and recognition of it is illegal. People can go have private ceremonies but the law makes it illegal for any county to issue a marriage license or for state government to recognize marriage licenses from other states where it is legal.
In all honesty, I think the right wing functions – and has always functioned – by identifying scapegoats and then milking them dry with campaigns of fear and ignorance targeted at their base knowing full well that America’s history – when summed together – is one of expanding equality and that they are virtually guaranteed to lose their fight-of-the-moment in the end.
Thus, getting an amendment – not just a law – poisons the well for the future. The law we (and every other state, almost) passed in the ’90s already makes it illegal for The Boyf and me to be legally recognized. If they can get an amendment, though, that means that the next generation and maybe a couple more after that will also be second-class citizens, denied thousands of legal rights and duties that are instantly conferred when a marriage license is signed, because amendments to the constitution are so much more difficult to get rid of.