Posts tagged marriage amendment

I’m organizing people in Onslow County to go out to the polls or be on the streets canvassing on May 8th.  This is a really important thing to do because there are still so many people who are undecided about amendment one or don’t have all of the facts about it.  There are still many votes to be claimed out there! 

Here’s the thing…I only have 1 volunteer besides myself.  One.  Seriously.  One.  I’ve been able to get volunteers for the surrounding counties but just 1 in Onslow.  This is a very bad thing.  According to http://www.carolinatransparency.com/votetracker/ , Jacksonville (county seat of Onslow County) ranks #19 out of cities with the highest early voter turn out.  We have a HUGE need here. 

So yeah.  This is basically me begging you to either drive from out of town to help here or reblog this, share this on facebook, or tweet this.  We need this to reach everyone!  Help us come together tumblr.

For people interested in volunteering (and only those interested) please request to join the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287141151371994/

Or message me here on Tumblr: http://voteagainstamendmentone.tumblr.com/ask

Or message me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/NOonAmendment1

(^Tracy Hollister with Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh speaks against the gay-marriage amendment at Monday’s Wake County Board of Commissioners’ meeting. The meeting drew a big crowd as the anti-gay marriage amendment and the Tea Party-backed opposition to the county’s sustainability were on the agenda.)

“Wake County commissioners have just endorsed Amendment One, the forthcoming ballot item which amends the state constitution to state that the only domestic legal union that is valid or recognized in North Carolina is marriage between one man and one woman.”

Read more at: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/20/1871344/wake-board-endorses-gay-marriage.html

Photo, caption, and body taken from source.

Vote Against Amendment One on May 8th!

Taken from: http://www.law.unc.edu/documents/faculty/marriageamendment/updatedamendentpointsfinal.pdf

“A proposal to amend the North Carolina Constitution will be on the ballot on May 8, 2012. The proposed Amendment on the ballot states “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”

The Amendment bans much more than same-sex marriage: Current North Carolina law prohibits same-sex marriage. The proposed Amendment, however, prohibits the state from recognizing or treating as valid any “domestic legal union” except heterosexual marriage. In using this language, the Amendment would not just ban same-sex marriage, it would prohibit important protections for a broad range of North Carolina families.

The Amendment’s language is vague and untested: The term, “domestic legal union” has never been used in North Carolina law before or interpreted by its courts. It is impossible to predict definitively how broadly courts will interpret the Amendment’s prohibitions to extend, given its vague and untested language.

Besides prohibiting same-sex marriage, the Amendment would certainly have these far-reaching effects:

• North Carolina voters could not pass civil unions in the future

•  State government could not allow unmarried couples to enter domestic partnerships, which would give them some rights and protections for themselves and their children

• Local governments could no longer offer domestic partner insurance benefits to their employees; this would eliminate the health-care benefits that Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, and Mecklenburg and Orange Counties now provide to domestic partners and their children

Further, courts could interpret the Amendment to bar the state from giving any rights to unmarried couples and their families based on their relationships. The Amendment could take away:

• child custody and parenting protections that further the best interests of children

• domestic violence and stalking protections for unmarried people

The Amendment could also prevent North Carolina from giving any further protections to unmarried partners in the future, as many states have done, including allowing them:

• to make emergency medical decisions for their partner

• to visit their partner in the hospital if their partner becomes incapacitated

• to determine the disposition of their deceased partner’s remains