Rally Against the Anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment at Halifax Court

Carl
09/07 08:12 AM

Wow, Food Trucks get 101 comments and this gets none ?
Food Trucks are the modicum of progressive culture ?

When I hang around my city of Raleigh I see plenty of obese people, YOUNG and old. I really think we have won the food accessibility battle.

So I suppose that metropolitan convenience holds more water
than being able to marry whom you want.

Fatten up, Wake County.

WILLNCSU
09/08 10:10 AM

Nothing to argue about this.  Everyone I know, conservative and liberal, think the amendment is stupid.  Polls say as much and I think backing this may be political suicide in the next election cycle.

lawishon
09/09 12:06 AM

I already plan to leave NC upon graduation. A backwards step such as this would only make my plans definite.

A law such as this will detract from the Raleigh and NC community, turn away talent, and help continue bigotry and ignorance.

Phillo
09/12 07:21 PM

You have to understand the line of thinking on this.  The desired end result would be to benefit to businesses and the economy in North Carolina, among other things.
 
By Christians in the legislature making a strong stand for their god, they are hoping that the result will be that their god will look favorably on the state, increase investment and fix the economy. 
 
Telling theocratic-leaning legislators that this will negatively effect business investment is going to fall on deaf ears.  The whole point is to “get back” in the good graces of a supernatural being through legislative action.

James
09/12 08:25 PM

Don’t forget though, lawishon, that leaving and having the option to is a privilege! This passing will have a very dangerous symbolic and actual impact on queer North Carolinian youth, who will ALWAYS EXIST and ALWAYS HAVE EXISTED. It is imperative we do not let these legislatures distract the public from unemployment and the economy by scapegoating and demonizing homosexuals as there is nothing inherently morally abominable about us! This matters, people!

smitty
09/12 10:26 PM

Rally after the vote?  Why?

ford
09/12 11:02 PM

smitty,
the vote isn’t held on the 12th, rather the week of the 12th

Aaron
09/13 12:37 AM

We all ask why this is necessary with unemployment in North Carolina. But we got our answer back in May with the budget. Those THUGS don’t care about us; they don’t care about our future. They only care about suppressing us with their theocratic ‘morals’ and imposing austerity while giving the rich a break from the messes that they create.  Stam is right; we’ll get our ‘public comment at the ballot box’. Remember to vote these fkrs out in 2012.

RaleighRob
09/13 08:35 AM

I love the Triangle, I really do.  But for all its wonderful aspects, it will always have the disposition of being stuck in the middle of a state full of backwards fundie hicks.  Such a shame.

frank
09/13 09:40 AM

This is being done to get white liberals to hate the black community. It’s an ALEC wedge tool.

Who were the people shown on TV wanting to ban gay marriage? Blacks with their signs. As gay marriage debate heats up and we notice that blacks and hispanics are going to be the key to whether it passes or fails, tensions will build. black and hispanic voters were the reason Prop 8 passed in California.

These are the same people who don’t mind gays and liberals to protest Neighborhood Schools with them. But if there isn’t a change in the black community, there will come a day shortly when liberals and gays will decide to let the black community get stuck with a ghetto school system in their neighborhoods. They will decide it’s not worth the effort to protect educational equality when the black community will dehumanize them. “We want your kind near our children” will be the response of the liberal community as things heat up.

At that time, the “It’s Everybody for themselves” message of ALEC, the Kochs and Art Pope will ring proudly across NC.

Little Timmy
09/13 10:15 AM

@Phillo: You’re thinking too hard on this one. The “whole point” is to rush a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to the ballot before demographics and history make the issue irrelevant. Recent polls show that age, more than religion, is the most significant factor in public support for LGBT civil rights. According to one of those polls, by the Public Religion Research Institute, 62% of all millenials (age 18 - 29) now support marriage equality. Even 44% of evangelical Christians in that age group support it (much to the horror of their elders). The time for bigotry is running out, and Stam & crew know it.

Phillo
09/13 10:52 AM

@Little Timmy:  I think both analyses are valid.  Yes, they feel demographic pressure to get it done as soon as possible (they may be theocrats, but they still understand political realities), but the underlying reasoning behind getting it done is to demonstrate to their theocratic constituents and to any supernatural beings watching that they can fight the good fight and save the state’s soul. 
 
Coming on the heals of Rick Perry’s prayer rally and theocratic/Tea Party posturing over perceived American apostasy, I see this as a rallying of Christian Soldiers to make one last stand against secular society before god turns his back on America for good. 
 
Approaching this not as a gay civil rights issue but as a stand against theocracy and in support of the separation of church and state opens the tent to more supporters and benefits a broader swath of society.  Otherwise you’ll have to wait for those supporters to die off as there is really no point arguing for civil rights for a group that is considered an abomination and an affront to their god.

KK
09/13 02:18 PM

Makes my blood boil to see the legislature wasting time on bigotry when they should be spending their time fixing the state’s economy.

Ken Pinkerston
09/13 02:47 PM

Let’s add a constitutional amendment that makes it a hate crime to be a Republican.

frank
09/13 04:34 PM

You just need to make it a crime to show up with ALEC handouts and let the Koch Brothers and their ilk call all the shots in our state.

Our own Speaker of the House was called Legislator of the year by the Kochs for ramming through all their ALEC handiwork. North Carolina is a pawn of two ugly billionaires.

smitty
09/13 06:17 PM

Just watched the protest on TV, definitely looks like a ploy to divide the democrats by race.  So embarrassing.

E
09/20 10:30 AM

Show up…tell your friends to show up.  My calendar is marked for May 8, 2012 to vote down the anti-marriage amendment.