marriage equality

The North Carolina Democratic Party recently voted to oppose the marriage discrimination amendment, and form the NC LGBT Democratic Caucus. That got me thinking and wondering about where other parties and movements stand, and where support for equality is coming from. Here is what I found. Feel free to add to it.

This week's video looks at the progress of marriage equality around the country, discusses what Governor Perdue's decision could mean in North Carolina for the amendment, and discusses an elderly North Carolinian couple who were willing to get arrested for equality. They got arrested for equality. Will you attend a march?

This week's Marriage News Watch covers the launch of Protect NC Families, and the Mayors for Marriage Equality movement. In related news, the Vote Against Project continues to travel the state hosting photo shoots where people can lend their faces to the cause of equality. To find out if your mayor has signed on yet, and to see when the Vote Against Project has a tour stop in your area, follow me below the fold.

This weekly segment keeps an eye on trends around the nation relating to the struggle for marriage equality. Knowing national trends, and learning from the experiences of those in other states is critical to having a comprehensive perspective for approaching the battle we are facing in North Carolina this May.

Matt Baume, with the American Foundation for Equal Rights, produces a weekly video segment called Marriage News Watch. It's usually a short, and very information-packed video. Given the upcoming vote on the marriage discrimination amendment in 4 months, North Carolina is sure to be a part of the segment each week, and this week is no exception. With the new year, civil unions are now legal in Delaware and Hawaii. It would be a shame, with everywhere else moving forward, if North Carolina starts moving backwards.

I thought I'd make my first blog entry of the new year, and my first one as a Blue NC frontpager, a look at the state of our state on two issues that I care passionately about: voting rights & LGBT equality. The first map refers to photo ID voter suppression laws, and the second map refers to marriage discrimination constitutional amendments. For both maps, gray means the bad measure has not passed. And for both maps you can see that NC stands alone in the South as we start 2012.

Pope calls himself a libertarian, but he's definitely at odds with the Libertarian Party on at least one issue, and that's gay marriage. Pope's foundation has given nearly one million dollars to leading anti-gay marriage groups including the NC Family Policy Council, which since 1999 has been one of the leading groups behind the anti-gay marriage amendment, which is now before us, and is going to be voted on in the May primaries.

Chris Kromm

So says the Twitterverse:

zack_hawkins 3:35pm via HTC Peep RT @ConenMorgan RT @NCCapitol: Same sex marriage protestors entered house floor. 3 arrested, incl 2008 US. Senate hopeful Jim Neal. #ncga

You deserve a medal, my friend, not incarceration. Please stop by and let us know you're okay, after they let you out of the Big House. Or whatever house they use to silence dissenters.

I'm pretty psyched about Equality NC's day of action where they, among other things, help put constituents who support LGBT equality in meetings with their elected officials in the General Assembly. I've never been before, but after getting my activist on with Democracy NC at the HKonJ march/rally on Saturday (I was happy to see Equality NC there too!), I'm pumped for this. I'm all about protests and rallies and all that, but I believe that such actions work best in a comprehensive approach in concert with contacting your representatives through letter writing, e-mail sending, phone calls, and direct meetings.

This is one of those local stories that has to get out there because it shows the cultural shift of inclusion of LGBTs into daily life is hit and miss not just from state to state, but from city to city.

Take these various local couples and wedding contests or notices in the paper of couples marrying. Including LGBTs is a breakthrough because these are your neighbors, fellow readers of the regional newspaper. Visibility matters and the editors of those newspapers have to make some tough decisions in a difficult economic climate about whether to "rock the boat" for the sake of fairness.

The Greensboro News & Record is "throwing a wedding for one lucky couple in the Piedmont Triad," announced on the N&R's Editor John Robinson's blog page...