My marriage is sowing the seeds of societal destruction in NC once again.
Yes, it's that time of year again. A group of scared, middle-aged white men (and this year, one woman) is so threatened by my relationship with Kate that they've gone back to the drawing board to write discrimination into our state constitution.
Senate Bill 13 (SB13) was filed yesterday. The pertinent language:
Marriage is the union of one man and one woman at one time. This is the only marriage that shall be recognized as valid in this State. The uniting of two persons of the same sex or the uniting of more than two persons of any sex in a marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar relationship within or outside of this State shall not be valid or recognized in this State. This Constitution shall not be construed to require that marital status or the rights, privileges, benefits, or other legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried individuals or groups."
The prior three attempts have died in committee. The Dem controlled General Assembly has kept it bottled up. That, friends, is the only reason that this state hasn't had an amendment on the ballot. If it ever made it to the polls, it would most certainly pass. The larger question to ask all legislators:
In your opinion, is it appropriate for the people of North Carolina to determine the civil rights of their fellow citizens by direct vote at the ballot box?
It's all or nothing folks, because if they truly believe this is the case, then I want the right to vote on the marriages of the rest of me fellow neighbors and a whole host of other rights, including placing some restrictions on religious fundamentalism. But the answer to this question should be "no." The civil rights of a minority of people should never be determined by the majority.
With stronger Dem numbers this year, we're hoping the same will happen again, but we have to deal with the clowns below stirring up trouble and shameless bigotry.
Primary sponsor of this "essential legislation" --
Email: Jamesf@ncleg.net
District: 41
Counties Represented: Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln
See the rest of the Tarheel homophobes in favor of discrimination after the flip.
Here are the co-sponsors of this hate legislation. What are they scared of?
Senator Austin M. Allran (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5876, Email: Austina@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Catawba, Iredell.
Senator Tom Apodaca (Rep), Deputy Republican Leader, Phone: (919) 733-5745, Email: Toma@ncleg.net.
Counties Represented: Buncombe, Henderson, Polk
Senator Phil Berger (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5708, Email: philbe@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Guilford, Rockingham
Senator Stan Bingham (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5665, Email: stanb@ncleg.net.
Counties Represented: Davidson, Guilford
Senator Andrew C. Brock (Rep); Phone: (919) 715-0690, Email: Andrewb@ncleg.net.
Counties Represented: Davie, Rowan;
Senator Harry Brown (Rep), Phone: (919) 715-3034, Email: Harryb@ncleg.net,
Counties Represented: Jones, Onslow
Senator Peter Samuel (Pete) Brunstetter (Rep) , Phone: (919) 733-7850, Email: Peterb@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Forsyth
Senator Don East (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5743, Email: Done@ncleg.net.
Counties Represented: Alleghany, Stokes, Surry, Yadkin
Senator W. Edward (Eddie) Goodall (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-7659, Email: Eddieg@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Mecklenburg, Union
Senator Fletcher L. Hartsell, Jr. (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-7223, Email: Fletcherh@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Cabarrus, Iredell
Senator Neal Hunt (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5850, Email: Nealh@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Wake
Senator Jim Jacumin (Rep), Phone: (919) 715-7823, Email: Jimja@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Burke, Caldwell
Senator Robert Pittenger (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5655, Email: Robertp@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Mecklenburg
Senator Jean Preston (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5706, Email: Jeanp@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Carteret, Craven, Pamlico
Senator Fred Smith (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5748, Email: Freds@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Johnston, Wayne
Senator John Snow (Dem), Phone: (919) 733-5875, Email: Johnsn@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Transylvania
Senator Jerry W. Tillman (Rep), Phone: (919) 733-5870, Email: Jerryt@ncleg.net
Counties Represented: Montgomery, Randolph
I'm sure we will have the religious wingnuts at Call2Action and James Dobson of Focus on the Family will scrape up people and ship them in to have another "Traditional Marriage Rally" or some other bullsh*t event as they have before.
C2A and the fundies bused in for the 2005 marriage rally bleated that 10,000 people would show up, and only to round up a couple of hundred folks, who carried precious signs like this:
***
EqualityNC will be lobbying hard again, not only to fight this amendment bill, but to encourage legislators to pass an anti-discrimination bill that adds sexual orientation, protecting gay state employees.
Related:
* NC marriage amendment legislation stopped for the third year
Comments
Thank you Pam
I know it must be tough starting each year fighting the same battles. I look forward to the day that we aren't applauding our legislators for blocking the GOP's agenda of hate, but we are applauding them for promoting a truly progressive agenda that extends basic rights to all people - and yes, I consider choice of marriage/life partner a basic right.
***************************
Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.
What a coincidence....
the sponsor of a right-wing attack bill feels comfortable doing such a thing because...
He went unchallenged.
Where are the candidates?
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
asdf
that is not the only reason they feel this type of thing is acceptable.
I wish we could see someone introduce a bill calling for complete equality before the law, especially on issues like health care coverage, insurance etc.
Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Petition
"Keep the Faith"
How about an amendment
How about an amendment to the constitution to prevent spurious bills like this to come even as far as committee?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
I knew it was you!
I've spent five years blaming my divorce on my philandering husband...but I secretly thought it was you that ruined my marriage. And apparently I was right!
Why else would my state senator sign on to this legislation if not to protect innocent people just like me from
cheating husbands, I meanhomewrecking bimbosno...I mean,happily coupled consenting adultsGod-hating lesbians?If only my husband had known it wasn't the thrill of skanky women, seedy motels and cheap booze that drove him to betray his marriage vows...it was gay people!! And not just that...gay people that want to get married!!
What is this world coming to when a woman can't even hold on to her lying, cheating husband because a couple of lesbians want "equal rights"?
Larry Kissell is MY Congressman
phssssssssseeeeeeeeetttttttttwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
That is the sound that coffee makes hitting your monitor at 20 mph, with acceleration caused by the smaller size of your nasal cavities.
Where are the candidates?
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
I think you hit the approach to this square on the head
This is not about fundie's fears about queers, this is about who gets to decide about the civils rights of American citizens. I don't want anyone telling me who I can marry or not. I don't want anyone telling anyone who can marry whom.
Further, the Constition of the state should not be a tool to take rights away from anyone. It should be used to protect the rights of all.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
Thanks for this article, Pam.
Sigh, I'm so conflicted:
In the past few days, North Carolina became the latest state where lethal injections have been halted--at least temporarily. Those who fight the death penalty have broken historic ground. Kudos, friends!
Yet, almost simultaneously, this horrible, horrible bill was filed--reminding me, yet again, of the harsh reality we face as LGBTQ.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
don't cry
Laugh a little. Those white, old, rich men (we had an anagram for them in college*)are so out of touch with humanity it's enough to make you laugh. They will bring in others of their ilk, and wave signs around that aren't even spelled properly. (hee) I wonder if they are the same ones who want to establish English as the official language of the United States.
Keep walking, keep writing, keep fighting and know that there are thousands walking with you. I don't think this bill will make it out of committee, and even if it does, I don't think it will pass. If it does, then we'll have a battle to fight.
*White, Old, Rich, Man = WORM. (with apologies to any older caucasian males with money on this site. If you're here, you don't fit the qualifications of this designation. )
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
Thanks for the encouragement, Lcloud.
I'd wager the Southern Dem was right about fighting the same battles. I am a relatively young fellow, and I haven't been on the front line for very long--still wet behind the ears, I suppose. But for folks like Pam--it must be so frustrating, not only frustrating, but seemingly futile, to fight the same battles year after year after year. And lose, again and again and again. With small, interspersed victories to keep us all going.
Pam, thanks for never losing hope, never giving up. Lcloud, thanks, too.
Some details
Lookee here. Pittenger and Smith signed on.
Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Petition
"Keep the Faith"
It won't get anywhere this year
The Repubs know this isn't getting anywhere this year. It's political grandstanding they believe will help them fend off challengers and weaken sitting D legislators. I think they've all gone insane...(you know the definition--belief that doing the same thing over and over again might lead to a different result).
The D majority won't let this out of committee until they are ready to turn over power in both houses and the mansion.
Although, as a gay man, it certainly does get exhausting being the right-winger's kick toy every year.
Just think though MK....
As a:
1. Liberal,
2. Gay,
3. Anti-death penalty advocate,
4. From Chapel Hill,
you get to be the kick toy for decades to come.
: )
Where are the candidates?
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
I just wonder about all their marriages
I hope their closets are skeleton-free. They are lucky that the Dem leg is probably going to squash this again.
Look at what's going on in Indiana. I'd hate to be a hypocritical marriage amendment proponent right now. In response to that state's proposal heating up in the legislature, LGBT activists have had enough. Bil Browning of Bilerico is looking for details on Hoosier lawmakers with plenty to hide, such as:
* the blowjob alleged received in the Statehouse parking lot by a married legislator;
* an oh-so-single legislator who had a sugar daddy who kicked it and left him a sizeable pile of dough;
* a forced-birth advocate who has been a repeat customer at an abortion service provider;
* a northern Indiana closet case;
* a couple of out-of-town legislators who have been sighted at a gay bathhouse (I guess they weren't handing out bibles);
* and the garden variety moralist who likes doing blow.
Yipes.
--
www.pamshouseblend.com
--
Pam Spaulding
Durham, NC USA
Pam's House Blend
www.pamshouseblend.com
you mean like
Patty?
UGHHHH the dog just made the entire room stink like only a puppy can just as I typed that name.
Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Petition
"Keep the Faith"
oh, yeah
our own "I'm-not-trying-to-take-anybody's-rights-away" Fredly has some skeletons hissownd$&@self.
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Jim Jacumin also unopposed
The Senate caucus didn't support Austin Allran's opponent even though he had a fighting chance if they'd given him just a fraction of the money they gave Pete Bland (who lost) or Joe Sam Queen (who probably didn't need the half million he got).
And what's wrong with John Snow? Does he really think that an anti-gay law is going to make spouses stop cheating and parents stop emotionally or physically abandoning their children?
When is the gay card going to be accepted as the hate-promoting cowardly publicity stunt it truly is?
“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.” So enjoy the Drama.
Now, now
We can't allow reason and logic to interfere with bedrock principles rooted in natural law.
In response to the thoughtless C2A sign above ...
Here are a few bedrock, unchanging principles upon which our barbarous ancestors built their societies;
Oh, yeah. Everybody used that one.
Not a whole lot of places where this bedrock principle was ever questioned. Still some dinosaurs holding on to this as "natural law," too.
And again, still some dinosaur societies holding on to this principle.
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Typical sleight of hand
This is typical sleight of hand distraction technique. Anti-marriage equality people claim that allow same gender couples to marry would threaten other "traditional marriage". In other words: "pay no attention to the blow-job I'm getting in the parking lot, or the sleaze bag I'm screwing on the side, look at those fags over there! Look, look!"
Ri-g.d.-diculous.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
Invalid on its face.
I'd like to point out that this is a clear violation of the Full Faith and Credit clause of the federal Constitution.
Article. IV.
Section. 1.
"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof."
Any marriage in Mass. is valid in all other states, according to the document that trumps everything else, including the Defense of Marriage Act, and states Constitutions.
has
the supreme court ruled on it like that? I honestly cant imagine this court agreeing with you. Hooray Judicial activism.
Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Petition
"Keep the Faith"
good, lets take them into the briar patch AGAIN!
So, the homophobic GOP hasn't learned its lesson yet?
Wasn't there a thing called "blow back" (bad pun) from this "strategy"?
Pretty likely that the GOP voters are starting to get a little nervous every time a GOP politician bashes gay people now.
After all, it took the Nov election to
get Foley off of the front of the pages (oh shame shame another pun).
Well, Pam, everyone, lets look forward to who the next anti gay, super homophobic gay republican will be the humiliation of the GOP party next!
Their hatred is coming back to bite them.
don't worry, no way lawyers would support ban on gay marriage
Many of our lawmakers are attorneys, and I would be shocked if they would deny themselves the added income that could come from an increased divorce rate (when more of the population can get married - and divorced).
Seriously though - it is scary whenever another threat like this comes, but this wont get far in NC's democratic legislature.
Eventually, it will lose its appeal as more and more anti gay rights but gay GOP are outed. There's plenty more.
Still waiting for admissions or videos or instant messages r/e a certain Mc-Yappy dog