I've been asked occasionally here on tdub about what is being done to defeat the amendment, and sometimes what I'm referring to when I mention the amendment. I'm answering that with this photo thread.

The GOP has been trying to put their anti-gay marriage edits into the state constitution for many years. In 2010 they took power in both the House and Senate. They put it on the ballot for May 8th, and ballot measures skip the Governor's desk. (The NC Democratic Party on the other hand created an official LGBT caucus on par with groups like the Democratic Women caucus, and officially declared their opposition to the amendment). It's not entirely partisan though. Even Tea Party Republican and anti-Muslim advocate Rep. Renee Ellmers opposes the amendment for going too far. The NC Libertarian Party likewise opposes it.

This amendment has potential downsides beyond making marriages like mine even more illegal, making it harder for me to get hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights, end of life decision rights, health benefits sharing, etc.

It will also end all domestic partnerships for straight couples in the municipalities across NC that offer them. It may end domestic violence protects for unmarried straight couples, as it did in Ohio after a similarly poorly-worded amendment passed, and they had to let domestic violence offenders out of jail because certain domestic violence protections ceased to apply.

One of many vigils across the state in Sept 2011 the night before it passed:


Rally in Raleigh in Sept 2011 when it passed:


Lots of signing up people to get involved, and voter registration occurred at the annual NC Pride rally and parade in Durham in Sept 2011:






After the vigil a new group form from folks who went to several of the vigils across the state, and started organizing workshops around the state to teach people about voter registration, about GOTV tactics, and about having conversations about the amendment. The group they formed is called All of Us NC. They do 3 main things: 1) Run "train the trainers" sessions where teams learn how to put together workshops 2) Teams are putting together workshops across the state 3) collaborate with allies in other politically active groups that are not LGBT focused.



The GLBT group at NCSU has done multiple voter reg efforts including one where they gave out their I <3 Diversity T-shirts in the brickyard back in October 2011.


All of Us NC isn't the only group pursuing a state-wide strategy. The Vote Against Photo Shoot project is touring the state, taking professionally done pictures of folks in their anti-amendment pics that you can use for facebook or whatever else to start conversations, and they're also passing out anti-amendment literature and doing voter registration. Like All of Us NC, they've been working since last year I believe, and are still operating to this day:


All of Us NC group at HKonJ, an annual multi-organization civil rights march in Raleigh, Feb 11. This is only one of several collaborative events where other groups are joining in against the amendment. The HKonJ coalition and the NC NAACP have officially opposed the amendment.


Protect NC Families, a coalition of groups, has been organizing something called Race to the Ballot. Where they do runs as a part of a statewide tour, where you can join in to raise awareness, sponsor runners, buy t-shirts, and other efforts to raise funds. Tons of these events have happened already, basically one is happening every day as they travel the state. The Raleigh event was earlier this month. This one is from Durham, the bull city, where they gave everyone foam hats with bull horns for a "running of the bulls"


This is a picture of the Race to the Ballot event in Rocky Mount at the UU church there, organized and hosted by the Rocky Mount PFLAG. Between PFLAG chapters across the state, high school GSA (gay straight alliances), and college GLBT student groups most regions of the state have groups to help host these events:


Race to the Ballot and the Vote Against Photo Shoot have lined up a lot of there events these days. Today they made it to ECU. It was a long trip considering they came from Elizabeth City State University earlier today. They also hosted a performance of various student groups. This was tap dance group:


On March 15th a group called Honest NC is organizing a March from the Bell Tower to the General Assembly downtown. I think the guy doing it is related to former NCSU student body president Kelly Hook.

Some city councils, including Raleigh, have passed anti-amendment resolutions. In fact I think it was Raleigh that started that trend. There have been a lot of letters to the editor to as well.

A lot of these various groups are converging on Wilmington soon for the Race to the Ballot finale and for other events in March. It started in rural parts of western NC, so it's end in eastern NC. It's not really the end and events will continue, but it does mark a shift from the initial organizing efforts to the more intense part of the campaign. Between all these events hundreds of people are working against this amendment, largely on a volunteer/out of their own pocket sort of way.

I doubt this thread gets many responses, but at least the next time someone asks what is the amendment, or whats being done about it, I can keep it simple and share a link to this thread. I doubt this is a comprehensive list of what folks are doing, but its what I've heard of.

2/24/2012 2:47:35 AM

Here's a list of the groups who oppose the amendment. I know of groups not on this list so its not comprehensive, but it's a good overview:




ACLU-NC

Action NC

Alliance of Baptists

All of Us NC

Alliance at UNC Asheville

Appalachian State University College Democrats

ARC of NC

Asheville NOW

Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists

Baptist Peace Fellowship

Beloved Community Center of Greensboro

Campaign for Southern Equality

Campus Pride

Center for Participatory Change

Citizens for Equity in Government

CLOSER

College Democrats of North Carolina

Commitment NC

Community United Church of Christ

Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist

Covenant with North Carolina's Children

Davidson College Gay-Straight Alliance

Democracy North Carolina

Disability Rights North Carolina

Diversity in Faith: A Christian Church for All People

Duke Democrats

Duke LGBT Network

Duke Together Against Constitutional Discrimination (Duke Together)

Durham People's Alliance

East Carolina College Democrats

East Carolina University Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance

El Pueblo, Inc.

Epiphany Presbyterian Church

Episcopal Church of the Advocate

Equality Charlotte

Equality NC

Equality Winston-Salem

Faith in America

Family Equality Council

Guilford Green Foundation

Honest NC

Human Rights Campaign

Institute for Southern Studies

Latin American Coalition

LGBT Center of Raleigh

Libertarian Party of Mecklenburg County

Libertarian Party of North Carolina

Lillian's List of NC

Mecklenburg LGBT Political Action Committee (MeckPAC)

Methodist Federation for Social Action-North Carolina Annual Conference

NAACP-NC

NARAL Pro-Choice NC

National Association of Social Workers NC

National Conference for Community and Justice of the Piedmont Triad, Inc. (NCCJ)

NC NOW - North Carolina National Organization for Women

NC State University GLBT-Community Alliance

NC State University Graduate Student Social Work Association

Neighbors for Equality

North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute

North Carolina AIDS Action Network

North Carolina Alliance of Black Elected Officials

North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys

North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence

North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault

North Carolina Council of Churches

North Carolina Democratic Party

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

North Carolina Justice Center

North Carolina Policy Watch

North Carolina Social Justice Project

Not Right NC (Republicans Against Amendment One)

Occupy Raleigh

Orange County Democrats

Pauli Murray Project

People of Faith for Just Relationships

People’s Alliance for American Liberty

PFLAG (National)

PFLAG Alamance

PFLAG Carteret & Craven Counties

PFLAG Charlotte

PFLAG Flat Rock/Hendersonville

PFLAG Greensboro

PFLAG Hickory/Catawba Valley

PFLAG Lenoir/Caldwell County

PFLAG Rocky Mount

PFLAG Salisbury-Rowan

PFLAG Triangle

PFLAG Winston-Salem

Piedmont Triad Integrity

Planned Parenthood Health Systems

Planned Parenthood of Central NC

Progressive Democrats of North Carolina

Rainbow Community Cares

Replacements, Ltd.

Salem College Democrats

Salem College Student Activist Movement

Self-Help

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southerners On New Ground (SONG)

Stone Circles

The Freedom Center for Social Justice

The Firm of Mig Murphy Sistrom, CPA, PC

TransCarolina

Triangle Coalition of Reason

Trinity UCC

Umstead United Church of Christ

UNC Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance

UNC School of the Arts GSSA

UUA Standing on the Side of Love Campaign

Unifour OneStop Collaborative

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greenville, NC

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Outer Banks

Unity in Greensboro

UNITY!

Vote Against Project

Western North Carolina Citizens Ending Institutional Bigotry

Young Democrats of North Carolina

2/24/2012 2:50:54 AM

you should add Young Dems of Wake County

2/24/2012 2:54:06 AM

^

2/24/2012 3:24:00 AM

We were trying to get the Vote Against project to come to our Valentine's Day party but it didn't work out.

I'm sure we'll connect with them soon

2/24/2012 3:34:28 AM

This shit is so dumb. Why do people care so much about this stuff? If your churches don't pay taxes then you don't get to use religion as a means to govern other people. Who cares if its 'wrong'. According to the bible so are tattoos but that shit isn't illegal

shit pisses me off-MAINLY because all of this shit is a distraction from the fact that big bank is tanking away our freedom and implementing a police state. Bill Stills 2012

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 11:22 AM. Reason : I mean come on... Shot spotter? what the fuck]

2/24/2012 11:22:19 AM

ive been LOOKING for info about this and FINALLY got it

THANKS TDUB

2/24/2012 11:25:03 AM

marriage is defined as a unity between a man and a woman.

2/24/2012 11:26:48 AM

only if you believe in fairy godmothers and unicorns

2/24/2012 2:52:01 PM

GOP wants SHARIA LAW

fuck the motherfuckers

2/24/2012 3:09:22 PM

^^^ who's definition.

There are probably at least a hundred legitimate issues we could spend time and money on in this state or as a population. This is not one of them. ITS A DAMN WORD. It signifies an constantly evolving contract between consenting adults. Bob and Joe getting married does not effect your life in the slightest unless you are Bob or Joe. There is not 1 logical, rational, non-religious argument you can make against gay marriage and the religious ones don't hold water because we allow atheist to to get hitched.

I'll happily debate any angle you want to argue this one from

2/24/2012 5:55:20 PM

i am straight.....therefore it is impossible for me to support this without feeling threatened

2/24/2012 5:59:58 PM

^The real reason you can't support it without feeling threatened is that you're a bigot.

One of the hallmarks of bigotry is feeling threatened by equality under the law for certain groups.

2/24/2012 6:38:26 PM

^I think he was joking.

I should have included links for people who are interested in learning more, or looking up local events. The vote against photo shoot is in Charlotte today and tomorrow:

http://voteagainst.org/
http://www.protectallncfamilies.org/
http://www.racetotheballot.com/
http://allofusnc.tumblr.com/
http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=803
http://equalitync.org/resources/nc
http://equalitync.org/resources/nc/college

2/24/2012 7:06:05 PM

My father is a Methodist minister and he's a member of MFSA (Methodist Federation for Social Action). I'm pretty glad that he's not on the other side of this issue--actually, really glad he's not.

2/24/2012 7:12:46 PM

The simple solution is to just do away with the governmental concept of marriage.

3/2/2012 8:32:19 AM

You have my vote!

3/2/2012 8:43:16 AM

I support gays, but fuck if I'm willing to push for any sort of reform, stand outside or give money to such an organization. I barely do anything for myself.

I will nod my head and go back to my internet trolling on christian forums.

3/2/2012 8:49:09 AM

^

3/2/2012 4:58:51 PM

Supplanter, my friend wants 2 gay lovers


he feels alone and sad. he doesn't understand why people only want to make governmental definitions of marriages involving only 2 people

3/2/2012 5:02:22 PM

Oh yeah, I never went and looked at the photo they took of me when I went!

Never mind apparently they're not up yet. I thought they said two weeks

[Edited on March 2, 2012 at 5:38 PM. Reason : a]

3/2/2012 5:36:30 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPvVnrV1tow

3/2/2012 5:40:29 PM

should I be for amendment 1? or against it?

I'm confused.

3/2/2012 5:44:42 PM

http://voteagainst.org/amendment-facts

3/2/2012 8:46:18 PM

There is way more than 1 Photo in this thread... I cannot support anything with such misleading titles.

3/2/2012 8:49:43 PM

^^ they are too.

Quote :

"I support gays, but fuck if I'm willing to push for any sort of reform, stand outside or give money to such an organization."

What he said, but I'm not trolling Christian Forums.

3/2/2012 11:04:46 PM

I'm convinced that pure straight people are the minority now.

3/3/2012 12:14:26 AM

Quote :

"The simple solution is to just do away with the governmental concept of marriage."

nah man, it would be unconstitutional to treat everyone the same.

3/3/2012 5:41:16 AM

Quote :

"The simple solution is to just do away with the governmental concept of marriage."

True

3/3/2012 8:40:22 AM

The resistance is primarily based on the implications of possibly having a gay president and a man as first lady. Some people just fux with tradition.

3/3/2012 9:18:28 AM

Quote :

"The resistance is primarily based on the implications of possibly having a gay president and a man as first lady. Some people just fux with tradition."

Uhm... "primarily?" I'd say this ranks about 67 on a list of a 100 reasons why people don't want to legalize gay marriage.

#1 on the list is religion.
#2 on the list is fear - homophobia.

[Edited on March 3, 2012 at 11:30 AM. Reason : .]

3/3/2012 11:30:27 AM

I am a Registered Republican and a Christian and I oppose this Amendment and will be voting against it in May before I move to Georgia

3/3/2012 12:02:10 PM

good.

I wish everyone would think like you and i.

Despite my personal beliefs i realize that my beliefs shouldn't be forced upon everyone.

[Edited on March 3, 2012 at 12:04 PM. Reason : .]

3/3/2012 12:04:31 PM

I thought amendments were gud

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

3/4/2012 8:36:40 PM

so is the occupy wall street trend over with now?

3/4/2012 9:01:20 PM

Quote :

"so is the occupy wall street trend over with now?"

Yes, because there are no news stories on OWS, the OWS trend is over.

3/4/2012 9:52:31 PM

Mission accomplished. The banks are no longer in power

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

3/4/2012 10:03:40 PM

The problem with this is the tax implication.

I wish they would remove marriage from the tax code and let the states (and federal government) ONLY recognize civil unions between any two people. (This would be my preference, as it preserves a secular state). Then marriage is simply a matter of finding a justice who will perform the ceremony, government has zero power over the decision.

3/4/2012 10:57:47 PM

The furthest thing I've done for the gays was that "cyborg pirate ninja jesus" poster for that counter protest of the western baptist fuckheads that protested edward's funeral last year or so. And that was more on the lines of internet trolling IRL and spreading the awareness of CPNJ to non-believers.

He will come back and kill all that likes the Walking Dead because he too dislikes the poor acting, dismal plot advancement and not enough zombies in a zombie themed tv show.

I mean there was a show about cyborgs and it had a cyborg in every episode... there was shows about pirates with pirates in every show... shit there's even ninja shows with ninjas all the time fighting cyborgs! Zombie show with almost no zombies? blah

3/5/2012 8:59:37 AM

In the ancient language, the word for love has no bounds. Need we impose them now?

My local, state-level representative is definitely a bible thumping ant-gay supporter of this amendment. Rise up and fight it!

http://youtu.be/sQHSzbw7rmQ
lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/otep/riserebelresist.html

Smash the control machine!!!!!

3/8/2012 10:36:52 PM

Way to go Libertarians!



Here are details on the anti-amendment march tomorrow 3/15/12:

http://www.facebook.com/events/134294713334627/



It starts at the bell tower at 11am, then march to the Halifax Mall open grounds area by the General Assembly, Rally at Noon, things will wrap up around 1 to 2pm. Should be a clear, sunny day.

3/14/2012 1:48:08 PM

You know, whether or not it gets defeated or not, all your partner has to do is designate you as having the ability to visit them in the hospital, and that is protected by NC state law and you don't have to be related to the person.

3/14/2012 4:30:48 PM

^The constitution trumps laws. Changes to it can make existing laws unconstitutional. Most of what this amendment actually means, as has happened in Ohio, we wont know for sure for years until courts are done wrestling with it and interpreting it.

There are potential scenarios where this amendment ends hospital visitation rights for all unmarried couples, gay or straight.

3/14/2012 6:25:06 PM

As this is a Photo Thread, I suppose I ought to add photos from today's march/rally!

You can read about it here: http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/10858711/

Quote :

"Opponents of the measure say it would enshrine discrimination in the state's constitution and could have unforeseen consequences in other aspects of law including domestic violence protection orders"

They did a show of hands representing different areas and schools, and State was definitely there in force. The Grains of Time did the national anthem too.

3/15/2012 6:56:15 PM

stupid fags
i wanted dyke photos

[Edited on March 15, 2012 at 8:38 PM. Reason : need pics]

3/15/2012 8:37:47 PM

^Want more womenz? Lots of great people have lent their face to the cause.

Delivered:













[Edited on March 15, 2012 at 8:55 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2012 8:54:12 PM

Quote :

"The constitution trumps laws. Changes to it can make existing laws unconstitutional. Most of what this amendment actually means, as has happened in Ohio, we wont know for sure for years until courts are done wrestling with it and interpreting it. There are potential scenarios where this amendment ends hospital visitation rights for all unmarried couples, gay or straight."

Amendment 1 will not end those in North Carolina. Do a simple Google search.

3/15/2012 9:54:43 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/22/1506525/watch-the-amendments-language.html

Quote :

"It is very possible that this language could override existing domestic violence protections for unmarried partners. In Ohio, domestic violence convictions were overturned when the state added a similar amendment to its constitution. (The Ohio Supreme Court ultimately restored the protections, but only because the amendment's language was narrower than our own.) The amendment could undercut existing child custody and visitation rights that are designed to protect the best interests of children. The amendment could also prevent the state from giving any further rights to committed couples to order their relationships. For example, it would likely prevent the state from giving committed partners the right to determine the disposition of their deceased partner's remains. It would also prevent domestic partners from being added to the list of categories of people who have surrogate medical decision-making rights if their partner is incapacitated. Finally, it would prevent the state from in the future allowing second-parent adoptions by domestic partners, which ensure that both partners have a legal tie to, and legal responsibilities (including child support obligations) for, the children they are raising. Less likely, but still possible, courts could interpret the amendment to invalidate trusts, wills and end-of-life directives by one partner in favor of the other."

Quote :

"Maxine Eichner is Reef C. Ivey II professor of law"

3/15/2012 9:59:04 PM

Delivered ...thanks!

3/15/2012 10:12:21 PM