That Was Fast!

[William769]

North Carolina Anti-Marriage Amendment Speeds to House Floor



North Carolina lawmakers were expected today to take up a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, and not only did they start debate, it's already passed through committee and is on its way to the House floor for a vote.

Leaders of the Republican-controlled state legislature have vocally supported the proposed amendment, which would allow voters decide in 2012 whether to amend the state constitution to define marriage as only the union between one man and one woman (state law already bans recognition of same-sex marriages). This morning, LGBT rights advocates in the state say Republicans ushered the bill through the House Rules Committee in less than an hour despite objections from Democrats. The bill could be voted on in the House by day's end.

If it passes the House today, then the bill must still be voted on in the Senate, and it skips the governor's desk entirely because it's a ballot initiative.

On Monday morning, the state LGBT rights group Equality North Carolina said it delivered nearly 50,000 signed postcards from constituents to state legislators with one powerful message: “Keep Discrimination out of NC.”

“This overwhelming number of constituent messages shows that North Carolinians are opposed to the distracting and divisive anti-gay constitutional amendment,” said Equality North Carolina executive director Alex Miller.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/09/12/NC_Lawmakers_to_Consider_Anti_Gay_Marriage_Amendment/

[WillParkinson]

1. People will never learn...

It's NEVER about what the constituents want. It's about what the hate-mongers need to feed from. Whip up the hate and then profit.

[William769]

2. Still trying to figure out if this will hurt them or not in 2012.

[WillParkinson]

3. I doubt it....

It never seems to really hurt them. There's always other things that are 'well, they suck on this but they're better on this thing....'

[gratuitous]

5. It might

North Carolina has been trending blue for a while, and actually voted for Obama in 2008. This kind of bigotry is losing its appeal, particularly since the sky didn't fall on Massachusetts or New York or any of the other states that have decided that all citizens should have the benefit of all the rights codified in the law.

However, that might not stop the lege from parading its ignorance for all to see. I don't think the governor will sign the bill. But I wonder if North Carolina has a citizen referral process? Ohio did that on SB 5, much to the chagrin of the governor, who suddenly wants to be all reasonable and stuff, and can't we just pull this off the ballot and talk about it?

[William769]

7. "it skips the governor's desk entirely because it's a ballot initiative. "

[gratuitous]

8. Ah, they're referring it to the voters themselves

The result of this legislation, then, isn't an actual constitutional amendment, but a ballot measure referral for some upcoming election, and the voters decide. I clearly misread the article.

On the other hand, it might be a good idea to make a bit of a stink about "Doesn't the legislature have anything better to do than muck about with the state constitution? Particularly since they already passed a law against same sex marriage. Are they so homophobic that they have to make same sex marriage illegaller?"

A cowardly bunch of bullies, aren't they? What will they squeal when their bigotry is exposed and they get the spanking (electorally speaking) they deserve?

[William769]

9. "A cowardly bunch of bullies".

That pretty much sums them up.

[taterguy]

6. NC GOP won redistricting power in 2010 so they'll gerrymander their seats

There's relatively few state house districts that are competitive.

The goal is to have an impact on state-wide races like Guvner and Prez.

It's too soon to tell what will happen in either of those races.

If the GOP is dumb enough to nominate someone from Charlotte for Guv then they'll lose.

I have no idea what they'll do in the presidential race. It might depend on who the nominee is and how much effort the DEMS expend in NC. It takes an extraordinary amount of resources for DEMS to win presidential races in NC, which is why they've only done it once since 1976. Obama and Clinton are the only ones who came close and Clinton lost badly in NC in 1996.

[spanone]

4. it's called 'ram it through while no one's watching'