By an overwhelming 60-40 vote, North Carolinians went to the polls yesterday and voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that makes marriage between one man and one woman the only legal union recognized by the state, banning not only same-sex marriage but civil unions as well.
Politico is reporting that North Carolina became the 30th state to adopt a ban on same-sex marriage yesterday. It is the last of the southern states to do so. The new amendment will also deny recognition to civil unions and other types of domestic partnerships.
The ballot initiative prompted a heavy turnout at the polls in spite of the fact that the presidential primary has been all but decided. Early voting also reached record levels with state officials confirming that more than 500,000 people cast early ballots, more than the turnout in 2008 when Obama and Hillary Clinton were fighting for the Democratic nomination.
“Your efforts send a message to the state of North Carolina and to the country that we will not allow marriage to be redefined in this state,” Tami Fitzgerald, chair of Vote for Marriage NC, told supporters gathered in Raleigh. “The nation is watching North Carolina, and we have given them a high standard to follow.”
The vote came on the heels of an awkward dust-up in the Obama Administration this past weekend when Vice President Joe Biden spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage, something the president has yet to endorse. However, the administration’s actions have spoken louder than their words on the issue. President Barack Obama has given unprecedented support and access to the LGBT movement during his presidency, and he has ordered his justice department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court because he believes the law is unjust. This makes his refusal to publicly endorse same-sex marriage look too much like the political posturing that it is for a president facing a close election whose crucial African American base is against the unions.
As a result, the angst of the LGBT community was stirred anew and the president’s re-election campaign was forced into into damage control after the North Carolina decision. Obama campaign spokesman Cameron French told Fox News today that the president was “disappointed” by the vote and called the amendment “divisive and discriminatory.”
Even though a recent Gallup poll showed support same-sex marriage increasing across the U.S., the populations in several key swing states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, both states with large Catholic populations, are not in support of the measure and are expected to pose a problem for the president’s re-election campaign.
Three other states will take a vote on the issue in November – Minnesota, Washington and Maine.
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