Defend Traditional Marriage In North Carolina
By Judson Cox (02/15/05)
The day is fast approaching when gay marriage may become legal in North Carolina. This southern state, in the heart of the Bible belt, is set to become the next battle ground in the culture war.
In 1996, North Carolina passed legislation to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Unfortunately, much has changed since then. Homosexual unions in other states and a variety of constitutional issues have made that law inadequate. As at the national level, the best (and perhaps the only) option left to defend traditional marriage is a constitutional amendment. In the 2004 election, such amendments to state constitutions passed in eleven states, by an average of 70% of the vote.
Whenever the people are given the chance to define and support marriage as only a union between one man and one woman, they do so overwhelmingly. North Carolinians would vote in support of traditional marriage, but are not being given the chance.
In 2003, NC State Senator Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) introduced a bill to amend the North Carolina Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. While traditional marriage amendments swept the nation, North Carolina’s bill died in committee.
On January 27th of this year, Sen. Forrester and Sen. Smith (R-Johnston) reintroduced the Defense of Marriage Amendment. Given the nationally victorious sweep of similar amendments only a few months ago, one would think this legislation would be quite popular. In other states, Republicans and conservative or moderate Democrats would rush to support such popular legislation for fear opposing an issue so favored by the voters – not in NC!
Gerrymandered districts gave Democrats powerful majorities in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly in the 2004 election. Democrats in these protected districts are more concerned with garnering favor with the wealthy and powerful homosexual lobby than they are the concerns of their constituents. The recent election also yielded North Carolina’s first openly lesbian State Senator, Julia Bozeman (D-New Hanover). Bozeman has vowed to legalize gay marriage and adoption in North Carolina. Should the Defense of Marriage Amendment come up for a vote, Bozeman and her very liberal Democratic colleagues would vote against it.
Gay marriage is in no way popular in North Carolina. Bozeman was elected because the liberal press in her district (Wilmington) withheld her lesbianism and radical gay agenda from the voters. With a colluding press and huge sums of money from national gay activist groups, she was able to conceal her agenda and win a Republican seat. If the Democratic Party fails to protect traditional marriage, or if the radical agenda of its younger, more liberal members becomes well known in the state, Democrats would soon lose their majority in the Legislature, and much more. For this reason, unprecedented action was taken by more clever heads in the Democratic leadership to avoid the issue.
In order to prevent the Defense of Marriage Amendment from ever seeing the light of day, Senate Rules Committee Chair, Tony Rand (D-Cumberland) changed the rules. Whereas in 2003, the bill died in committee, now no bill may even be referred to committee without Rand’s approval – yes, this is the same Tony Rand that gained national attention recently, when he attempted to remove all Christian symbols from the Legislative Building’s chapel! This so called “conservative Democrat” is so willing to appease the radical liberals in his party that he has subverted our entire democratic process. This one man is preventing the Defense of Marriage Amendment from receiving a vote. This one man is allowing the radical gay activists to wield more power than the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians who oppose them. This one man must be stopped.
If you are a North Carolinian, please visit www.northcarolinaconservative.com and sign the petition in support of the Defense of Marriage Amendment. Demand that Sen. Tony Rand stop obstructing the will of the people, and allow this important bill to receive an up or down vote. Please forward this article to every North Carolinian you know, and to everyone you know, asking them to do the same. This is not a partisan issue – now is the time for Christians, conservatives and all who believe in traditional marriage to stand and be counted. Act now to defend traditional marriage!
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