CHOOSING SIDES IN NORTH CAROLINA

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http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/05/north-carolina-gay-marriage-amendment.html



In the days before the vote in North Carolina on Amendment 1, which would ban same-sex marriages and civil unions, people on both sides came to believe that they could win. North Carolina was the single state in the South that didn’t have such language in its constitution; there was real if distant hope that it might never be one. A contingent of clergymen and local politicians had, surprisingly, come out against the ban; one of the original sponsors changed his mind. Bill Clinton recorded a Robocall. There was a frenzy of phoning, texting, and neighborly persuasion. Amendment 1’s supporters, meanwhile, brought out the Reverend Billy Graham, who said that voting for the bill was the Christian thing to do, and put him in a full-page ad in local newspapers. The sum both sides spent approached three million dollars. More voters cast ballots than did four years ago, even though, in 2008, there was a real race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and this year it’s Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. There were reports of angry confrontations at polling stations. It was, in other words, a fight—no matter how lopsided.

The opponents of Amendment 1 could have used some reinforcements. The bill passed, by about sixty to forty per cent—not even close, despite a dawning recognition that Amendment 1 is a very bad bill for very many people. Same-sex marriage was already illegal; by adding a ban on civil unions, it appears to compromise protections for any couple living together, and will cause many in the state, including many children, to lose their health insurance. (Anne Stringfield has more on what Amendment 1 would do.) The final stretch was something of a race against time for the opponents of the bill to explain to North Carolinians just what they were voting for. And then time ran out.

During the last rush of the campaign, members of the Obama Administration were also out talking about same-sex marriage—but in a very different way. On Sunday, Vice-President Joseph Biden had, in somewhat convoluted terms, said that he was “comfortable” with gay and lesbian couples having the same legal protections that any couple would. This might not, once the sentences were diagrammed, have been a full defense of gay marriage, but it was close—closer than President Barack Obama has been. Too close: the Administration reacted with edgy mortification. After Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, then said in plain words that he was a supporter of gay marriage, there were reports of more dismay. As much as Obama talks about his support for civil unions and how he is “evolving” on the subject, he and his team acted like they were afraid—as if gay marriage wasn’t a celebration, but something to whisper about.

President Obama issued a statement weeks ago saying that he was opposed to Amendment 1. But at a moment as crucial as this, that wasn’t enough, either. Rather than using every opportunity to explain something that made a lot of sense (a “no” vote on Amendment 1), his proxies were out reciting an argument that made no sense at all (why what Biden said was just like what Obama had always said, and that both were for equal rights but not for gay marriage). The Obama campaign clearly believes that it needs North Carolina in November; he has visited the state repeatedly, and it is the site of this year's Democratic National Convention. Another trip was briefly scheduled for Tuesday. It was cancelled. (The White House told reporters that this was due to an “internal miscommunication” about the schedule.)

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[NC_Nurse]

1. This makes me so sad. I love NC, but this shit is so discouraging.

Reminds me of the Jesse Helms years...we'd get so excited that maybe THIS time we'd beat him.
It was not to be. When you live in Chapel Hill, or Asheville, etc. you forget how much of the state is still ignorant rednecks. And with people like Billy Graham pushing the amendment, it's hard to make any headway in rural areas.

I'm about ready to give up on the South. If I ever get to retire, I'm probably going to GTFO of here for good.