same sex marriage

Cross posted on Amplify

10,000 people went to the Pride Charlotte festival in North Carolina, and it looked like a really awesome event. One group, called God Has a Better, way released a statement on the day of the pride festival that began with this:

We are here today to reach out and resist –– to reach out to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community with compassion, as neighbors and friends and fellow-workers, and to declare God’s great love for GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] people.
We acknowledge the fact that homophobia is alive and well in some churches, and we renounce and repudiate that hateful and destructive attitude.

Sounds good, right? Well, they decided to start with a “tolerance” message, when clearly they stand for anything but that:

Some days it is odd where you find your bright moments and little slivers of hope. This morning I found mine in the N&O. No, really. I'm serious. I was reading this post about how Senator Richard Burr had sent a lot of money to losing candidates last election cycle and I scrolled down to find another piece about a Republican senator from Cary who wants to make sure North Carolina's laws are gender neutral. He must have daughters or granddaughters.

cross-posted at dKos

If North Carolina's constitution is ever amended to ban gay marriage, it'll probably be 2012 at the earliest. The state house has made it difficult, if not impossible, for such a monstrosity to even come up for a vote.

After the protesters numbering at least 3,000 by police estimate ended their rally in near-freezing temperatures, Democratic leaders in the House required that a marriage amendment bill co-sponsored by 66 of the chamber's 120 members go through four committees before floor debate can begin.

That is an unheard number of committees for any bill in the Legislature. And a similar Senate bill was sent last week to a committee that has not met in years.

A bill sponsored by a majority of the legislature being kept off the floor? Those evil, evil, evil libruls! But there's one problem--the state constitution requires that an amendment initiated in the General Assembly must get the support of three-fifths of both houses before getting on the ballot. And I seriously doubt there's anywhere near three-fifths support in either chamber.

I saw a chance on Equality NC's website to share a letter with local leaders on the "defense of marriage" amendment. I see CA moving in the right direction, and I don't want NC to move in the wrong one. (Arnold wont let it happen through legislation, but will through the courts... whats up with that? But I digress) Check this out, and feel free to share a copy of your own letter if you choose to. http://eqfed.org/campaign/amendment08 Here is my letter: