The people of North Carolina had a choice yesterday. They could vote for equality for everyone and to support the United States Constitution, or they could vote to institutionalize hate and inequality in their state. A clear majority of them voted for hate. They voted to approve an amendment to their state constitution that would not only deny same-sex couples the right to marry, but also to form civil unions (so they could have the same rights and privilieges offered to heterosexual married couples).
The United States Constitution, through the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees all citizens of this country equal rights. The North Carolina constitution now guarantees that equal rights will be denied to at least one class of citizens in that state. The craziest thing about this is that if you ask them they will say they voted to protect marriage. Yet not a single one of them can tell us how giving equal rights to same-sex couples will harm marriage.
The simple truth is that giving equal marriage rights to same-sex couples will not harm the institution of marriage, and it will not harm any existing or future marriages of heterosexual couples. They voted for amendment one because someone (probably their preacher) told them that their god and their religion commands them to hate -- and that is the truth no matter how vigorously they try to deny it. With 94% of the vote counted, about 1,244,833 (61%) people had vote to promote hate in their state.
But not everyone in North Carolina believes in hate. 795,628 (39%) voters opted to vote for equality and to uphold the American Dream (and the U.S. Constitution). I commend those voters for the stand they took.
But the North Carolina majority is out of step with the nation as a whole. A new Gallup Poll showed that for the second year in a row at least 50% of Americans support the right of same-sex couples to marry. The times are changing. Maybe not fast enough, but they are changing -- and in a few years this vote in North Carolina will mean nothing.
