Protect NC Families official launch is today!

Protect NC Families, the leading coalition working to defeat the amendment, had their launch event today in the North Carolina Legislative Building. It was a good reminder that, though some legislators may want to write discrimination into our Constitution, it is we the people who hold the true power. It was a diverse crowd of community and faith leaders that reminded us all of that power which we hold.

Follow me below the fold for more discussion of this event, discussion of the amendment, photos, and this week's Marriage News Watch video.

I'm putting this video below the fold this week since it doesn't cover NC very much, but it does mention that the play simply called 8 will be touring the country. More on that:

http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-play-8-goes-national-during-2012-1208...

The pro-gay marriage American Foundation for Equal Rights and partner Broadway Impact are sponsoring dozens of productions of Dustin Lance Black's play starring local actors across the country this election year. It'll be shown in states where marriage battles loom, including Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

The play will get two showings at PlayMakers Repertory Company, the theater-in-residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The first will be April 9 and the second will be May 8, the same day voters in that state vote decide whether to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Various speakers for the groups in the coalition to Protect NC Families spoke eloquently today on the many reasons to defeat this amendment. Though I live-tweeted the event, which you can see if you click here, I'll bring you the arguments Protect NC Families made straight from their website since I believe they could say them far better than myself.

http://www.protectncfamilies.org/issues

ISSUES/HARMS
The proposed Constitutional Amendment would enshrine discrimination in our state constitution. Even beyond the obvious harm that would cause to many North Carolianians, and the reputation of our state, exists many additional harms that could quite literally rip families apart.

Families
Did you know that the proposed Constitutional Amendment would strip basic protections from hundreds of thousands of North Carolina families? Vote AGAINST the Amendment to Protect NC Families.

Children
Did you know that the Amendment not only threatens child custody and visitation laws, damaging North Carolina’s ability to protect the “best interests of the child,” but also increases risk factors for suicide in all of North Carolina’s children? Vote AGAINST the Amendment to Protect NC Children.

Domestic Violence Protections
Did you know that the Amendment creates a conflict with North Carolina’s domestic violence laws that could mean some batterers get out of jail free? Vote AGAINST the Amendment to Protect NC Domestic Violence Victims.

Personal Freedoms
Did you know that the Amendment attacks even North Carolinians most basic personal freedoms, including threatening hospital visitation, the ability to dispose of a deceased partner’s remains, undercutting basic medical and financial decision-making, even challenging basic contract-building by invalidating trusts, wills, and end-of-life directives, as well as existing child custody and visitation rights. Vote AGAINST the Amendment to Protect NC Personal Freedoms.

Economy
Did you know that the Amendment harms North Carolina’s economy by stripping public employers of the ability to provide domestic partner benefits like health insurance, as well as potentially denying private businesses control over what benefits they offer their employees and the caliber of employees they can recruit? And we all know: no business, no jobs. Vote AGAINST the Amendment to Protect NC Business.

Protect NC Families said they have a goal of creating one million conversations against this amendment between now and May. Though organizations on both sides will spend a lot of money, and though donations will be extremely important to fund the anti-amendment work, we can still do a lot as individuals even without deep pockets. We have the power to beat this, one conversation, and one vote at a time. Is there someone in your life that you haven't had a conversation with yet about voting against this amendment?