Obama Campaign Opposes NC Anti-Gay Ballot Measure

President Obama visited North Carolina on Friday and his campaign issued a statement opposing the anti-gay ballot measure called Amendment One which voters will consider on the May 8 primary. As I have discussed here many times before, if passed by voters, Amendment One would have far reaching effects on all families in North Carolina, especially ones headed by same-sex couples, because it purports to only allow one kind of "domestic legal union" to be recognized by the state, and that "domestic legal union" must include a man and a woman. If the amendment were added to the state constitution, it would most definitely pass the legislative or judicial branches of government from enacting marriage equality, and would probably ban state recognition of any kind of same-sex domestic partnership. It's not clear if it would also repeal existing domestic partner statutes already existing in local jurisdictions around the state.

The text of Obama-Biden 2012's statement is:

"While the president does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples," said Cameron French, his North Carolina campaign spokesman. "That’s what the North Carolina ballot initiative would do – it would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples – and that’s why the President does not support it." 

The good news is that Obama's statement comes after other recent news about the fight against North Carolina's heterosexual supremacist Amendment One has intensified, and polling suggests a solid majority opposes the measure.

It is also very good news that the Obama camp has decided to explicitly oppose Amendment One, something LGBT activists have been asking for repeatedly.

It will be interesting to see as we get closer to the election of the campaign will take a position on any of the marriage referenda that will appear on the same ballot, in states like Washington, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota, all of which are likely to be blue states.

Villaraigosa Supports Marriage Equality in 2012 Dem Platform

Antonio Villaraigosa, is Mayor of Los Angeles and
Chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention

There is a campaign called "Democrats, Say I Do" organized by the Freedom to Marry to convince Democrats to include a marriage equality plank in the official platform of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, to be held in Charlotte, NC in August 2012. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a longtime LGBT ally has been named the Chair of the Democratic National Convention and recently announced that he supports the inclusion of the marriage equality plank.

The text of the language to be included is:

The Democratic Party supports the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibility, and protection under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called "Defense of Marriage Act," and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.

In addition to Mayor Villaraigosa (who also happens to be a co-chair of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry), the campaign to include the marriage equality plank in the 2012 Democratic platform now has the support of 22 Democratic U.S. Senators.

The 22 senators are Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)


If you don't see your Senator on the list you might want to contact them and ask why not?

POLL: NC Majority Opposes Anti-Gay Amendment

Well, well! There's a new poll from Elon University which indicates fairly substantial (and growing!) opposition to North Carolina's Amendment One, a measure which would likely ban state recognition of same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships if were to pass and be added to the state constitution on the May 8 primary election.
As depicted above, a total of 29.6% of respondents strongly oppose, and another 27.3% oppose the measure, giving a total of 56.9% which oppose denying state recognition of same-sex relationships. On the other side only 14.3% strongly support the measure, with another 20.7% supporting, for a total of 35.0% supporting it. These are very encouraging numbers for the forces promoting equality, and frankly somewhat surprising. The margin of error is ± 3.98 percentage points.
The umbrella organization fighting Amendment One is Protect All NC Families. Won't you support them by donating now? I did!

Fight Against NC Anti-Gay Ballot Measure Intesifies

As you may recall, the North Carolina legislature has proposed an anti-gay constitutional amendment that will be placed before voters which would ban not only state recognition of same-sex marriage but also may ban domestic partnerships as well. What I had not maybe emphasized in my previous coverage is that this vote will occur during the statewide primary election on May 8, not the November 6 presidential election.

The specific ballot language of the anti-gay amendment that voters will see on May 8 is:

[] For [] Against
Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized by this State.


Of course "domestic legal union" is not defined in the text of the amendment or in North Carolina law so it will be up to judges to define it if the measure passes, but it could most definitely be construed to mean that not only same-sex marriages but opposite-sex or same-sex domestic partnerships would be banned at the state level.

Since the vote is basically 2 months from today, the opposition to the measure has accelerated, with Scott Wooledge using a front-page post on Daily Kos to highlight the polls on the measure and promote the following video, titled "Momentum:



North Carolina has long been a target of heterosexual supremacists because it is the only state in the Southern United States without a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Let's work together to make sure that North Carolina's constitution remains free of the stain of homophobic discrimination on May 9 by donating money to defeat the amendment.

Maryland House Passes Marriage Equality 71-67!

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (D)

On the same day (within hours actually) that Republican Governor Chris Christie joined the wrong side of history by vetoing marriage equality legislation passed by the New Jersey legislature the day before, Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley showed the potency of his political capital with the 71-67 passage of a marriage equality bill in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Just one year ago, the Maryland House of Delegates had failed to even vote on a marriage equality bill after it passed the Maryland State Senate. During that vote, it revealed a lack of political will, even among allegedly progressive politicians like Sam Arora who had campaigned on their support for marriage equality then changed their minds when the vote became a reality.

The news today that Republican politicians like the karmically challenged Ken Mehlman and even the odious Dick Cheney were lobbying legislators in favor of the marriage equality legislation while Sam Arora was refusing to take a public stand roiled the LGBT blogosphere.

Governor O'Malley released a statement:

“Today, the House of Delegates voted for human dignity. Speaker Busch and his fellow Delegates deserve a lot of credit for their hard work. At its heart, their vote was a vote for Maryland’s children….Now, as the Senate prepares to vote, all of us are needed – and we’re prepared to redouble our efforts. The common thread running through our efforts together in Maryland is the thread of human dignity; the dignity of work, the dignity of faith, the dignity of family, the dignity of every individual. Love is an unalienable right.”

As for Arora? He voted no (again). There are numerous people, yours truly included, who have a decided interest in making sure that his vote today against equality for all (after being personally lobbied by phone to vote yes by Bill Clinton, Governor O'Malley and Terry Mcauliffe) was a career-ending decision.

The bill is expected to pass the State Senate fairly quickly and be enthusiastically signed into law by Governor O'Malley, who becomes another 2016 Democratic presidential contender and sitting Governor who fought for marriage equality in his state (following in the footsteps of New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Washington governor Chris Gregoire). Only New York will definitely have marriage in 2013, because there is no practical process by which the state's marriage equality law can be challenged by referendum.

It also means that the 2012 elections will have three affirmative marriage equality ballot fights (if we win then same-sex couples can get married) in Maryland, Washington and Maine and two defensive marriage equality ballot fights (if we lose then marriage equality is banned at the state constitutional level) in North Carolina and Minnesota. Interestingly, all 5 states are considered "blue" (Democratic) states likely to cast their votes for President Barack Obama.

A serious question will need to be asked: do you spend more money on defense (North Carolina and Minnesota) or on offense (Washington, Maryland and Maine)? Plus there's the possible election of Tammy Baldwin as the first openly LGBT member of the United States Senate from Wisconsin.

It's definitely going to be an interesting election year!

WA: New Poll Shows Support For Marriage Equality

LGBT Think Progress reports about a new poll in Washington state which demonstrates that marriage equality supporters may have more terrain to play offense on next year. 

Of voters surveyed, 55 percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same-sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum. The poll found 38 percent would oppose the law and 7 percent were undecided.

However, additional questions in the poll found that 44 percent of voters surveyed said gays and lesbians should have the same legal right as straight couples to marry; and 22 percent said they should have the same legal rights as married couples, but it should not be called marriage.

Seventeen percent said there should be no legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. The wide-ranging poll touched on several other issues, including the state budget shortfall.

The Washington Poll surveyed 938 registered voters statewide from Oct. 10-30. It has a plus or minus 3.2 percentage points margin of error.

There are anti-gay marriage ballot measures qualified for the 2012 election in Minnesota and North Carolina.

There are likely to be pro-gay marriages ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Washington and possibly Oregon.

I predict that there will be more Americans living under marriage equality laws at he end of 2012 than at the end of 2011.

POLL: NC Anti-gay relationship amendment ahead 61-34

After years of being stopped by a Democratic majority in one House of the North Carolina legislature, a constitutional amendment to ban the recognition of "[any] domestic legal union between members of the same sex (i.e. same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships) was passed by the new Republican majority September 12th.

This week comes the bad news that despite a majority of North Carolinians either supporting marriage equality or domestic partnerships almost two-thirds support this virulently anti-gay constitutional amendment:

PPP's first look at the proposed marriage amendment in North Carolina since the legislature placed it on the ballot finds it leading 61-34. Republicans are overwhelmingly in favor of it (80/17) and independents (52/43) and Democrats (49/44) support it as well, although by more narrow margins.

The interesting thing is that 51% of this same set of voters supports legal recognition for gay couples. 22% favor gay marriage and another 29% civil unions, with only 46% completely opposed to granting same sex couples legal recognition.  The problem for those trying to defeat the amendment is that 37% of voters who support gay marriage or civil unions are still planning to vote for it.  That suggests a lot of folks aren't familiar with how wide reaching the proposed amendment would be and it gives those fighting it a chance- they just have to get their message out effectively to the majority of North Carolinians who do support legal recognition for gay couples that the proposal goes too far.

This is really a classic example of how small differences in poll question wording can lead to huge differences in how people respond. Last month we asked the following question "State legislators have proposed an amendment to the North Carolina Constitution that would prohibit the recognition of marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. If the election was held today,would you vote for or against this amendment?" When you ask it that way only 30% of voters are supportive and 55% are opposed. Voters are against 'prohibiting' recognition for gay couples. But if you word it in such a way that all you're doing is defining marriage as between one man and one woman, voters are ok with that.  You're asking about the same thing in both cases, but the semantics make a huge difference and Republicans clearly know what they're doing with the language that's on the ballot.

One key group of voters those fighting the amendment will really have to reach out to is black Democrats. 70% of them support it to 25% opposed. White Democrats on the other hand oppose it by a 57/37 margin.

The only anti-gay marriage amendment to have been defeated was in Arizona, and it similarly attempted to ban both marriages and domestic partnerships. That measure failed in 2006 when senior citizen groups came out against the measure. But in that state the measure was actually stripping people of exstant domestic partnership benefits. I don't believe North Carolina has any state recognition of same-sex couples (or opposite-sex couples) outside of marriage, so the amendment is banning a "theoretical" problem which will be easy to demonize in  Bible Belt state.

Text of Anti-Gay North Carolina Ballot Measure

Below is the text of a constitutional amendment passed by the North Carolina legislature this week which purports to "protect marriage" by declaring that only  "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized" in the State of North Carolina. The intent is similar to the odious (and unconstitutional) Proposition 8 in California and the still-to-be-voted on Minnesota amendment but the legislative language "domestic legal union" is novel. It will definitely ban any state recognition of marriage between same-sex couples and civil unions but it's not clear if it would ban the enactment of a limited statewide domestic partnership statute.NC Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment