LGBTQ

Dear President Obama:

I write to you today not as a Democrat, nor as the Chair of the Gaston County Democratic party, but I write to you as a proud man and Gay American.

Just got word of this. It is being hosted by the Libertarian Party of Mecklenburg County and has a really impressive list of panelists:

Charlotte, NC – On Tuesday August 21st, in honor of Pride Week, LPMeck will hold a forum addressing LGBT issues in North Carolina. A special guest panel has been invited to weigh in on these issues and hold an open discussion on the current political landscape in North Carolina and how it relates to members of the LGBT community.

The event will begin at 7:00pm in the upstairs banquet room at Fox & Hound uptown. The discussion will be moderated by LPMeck Chairman, Tim Doran.

Listening to the rhetoric from progressives around the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot in May, one might think the amendment has nothing to do with marriage, equality or the LGBT community.

Instead I see tweets like this

#Amendment1 will harm children. Period. #a1harmsnc ar.gy/0Daw

— Protect ALL Families (@protectNC) March 8, 2012

This has been the tone of the anti-amendment campaign since its beginning. It has focused on the conclusions drawn by UNC Law Professor Maxine Eichner in her paper on the broader effects of Amendment One. I have the utmost faith in Eichner’s scholarship and I am fully prepared to accept her conclusions. In a rush to appease their far-right financial backers, the GOP hastily pushed through an amendment that is vague and will certainly have unforeseen consequences, no doubt harming families and children.

But that’s not why the amendment is bad.

It’s bad because it enshrines hate and discrimination into our constitution. It's bad because it sends a message that members of the LGBT community aren’t welcome and aren’t equal in North Carolina and it's bad because it drags us back to the days of separate water fountains and segregated lunch counters. Not to mention that within a generation it will certainly be repealed.

Erwin Chemerinsky will be there; so should you.