Public comments will be taken on April 10, 2013 beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building.
If the online sign up fills up, you can sign up to speak in person at the table just outside of the hearing. That's how I and many others got a chance to speak last time. It'd be nice if they gave the public more than a week's notice, or had it not during a workday, but asking for an accessible hearing about efforts to make voting less accessible is probably too much to hope for.
LGBT equality is an immigration issue. Immigration is an LGBT issue. For more than just reasons of bi-national gay couples being split up through deportation because DOMA prevents recognition of those marriages even in states where it's legal. At least a quarter million more reasons.
This short video is the latest from the Center for American Progress. It's about the intersection of LGBT and immigrant communities and the issues they face. As one of the top 10 most populous states and as a state in the south we're one of the areas where this intersection is more prevalent than you might think. Between amendment 1 and the 2nd class driver licenses, these communities are under attack, but they also represent an opportunity for intersectional and coalition-based organizing in North Carolina.
Today was a day full of vigils, reflection, and preparation for the future. A voting rights vigil planned for the Pitt County Courthouse in recognition of Bloody Sunday and the current voting rights struggles in this state, and a freedom to marry vigil planned for the Wilson County Courthouse in recognition of this week's Supreme Court marriage cases. Today was spent honoring history from Selma to Stonewall.
The countdown continues. Only 3 days left until this historic Supreme Court freedom to marry case. Lines have been forming out side the Supreme Court for days now. The polling is moving in our favor at a rapid pace. Even a hundred some prominent republicans have made the jump to supporting marriage equality. There are some big events in DC, but you don't have to go that far to have a piece of history with this landmark case, because events are being held all across the country and across North Carolina.
In 3 weeks the Supreme Court will take up a case considering the constitutionality of Prop 8, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and generally the freedom to marry for LGBT couples. Recently Equality NC joined with many other organizations, politicians, and faith leaders to oppose marriage discrimination in the form of an amicus brief. Public events and demonstrations relating to the Supreme Court case are starting to pop up in NC, in DC, and around the country. In 20 or 30 years, how will you answer the question, where were you during this freedom to marry case?
We're hiring! With the General Assembly being distracted from jobs by breast bills, attempts to fire oversight personnel, and attacks on voting rights and education, those might not be words you hear too often in NC these days. But Democracy North Carolina is hiring undergraduate student summer interns, who are interested in non-partisan organizing, to join the team for the summer.
Interns earn a $2,500 stipend, while they build relationships and receive training that will help them start a career in social and political change. Now in its 14th year, Democracy Summer is ideal for college students interested in working in social and economic justice, community-based advocacy, research, politics, law, nonprofits, or public service.
Have you heard about those White House petitions, where if you get 25,000 signatures, they have to respond? Well you should sign this one calling on the President to address clean elections and Citizens United in his State of the Union next month. North Carolina knows all to well what effects big money in our politics have especially at the state level. Surely we can put these petitions to better use than other recent noteworthy petitions like seceding from the union or building death stars!
It has taken lawmakers and leaders some time to catch up with the polls that have been showing for the past few years that a majority of Americans support full marriage equality, but with all the recent states joining in it seems like it's finally starting to happen. With the Supreme Court potentially striking down DOMA and returning marriage equality to California in June of this year we're getting ever closer to the tipping point of having a majority of the country's population in areas that recognize the freedom to marry.
'Lawfully married': Maryland ushers in 2013 with its first same-sex nuptials
BALTIMORE -- Seven gay couples in Maryland rang in the New Year with wedding bells early Tuesday, the first wave of nuptials since voters in the state backed the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The Supreme Court is taking up the Winsdor DOMA challenge and the Prop 8 Case. Depending on the ruling, and how broad or narrow it is, this could potentially end amendment 1, DOMA, and marriage discrimination all across the country.
After historic victories in the 2012 elections in which marriage equality won and discrimination lost in 4 states and the first openly gay candidate was elected to the US Senate, the US Supreme Court now poised to weigh in on the issue. The Marriage News Watch video below looks at the history of marriage-related rulings by SCOTUS.
They could decide as early as next week whether or not to take up cases challenging DOMA and challenging marriage discrimination. If they opt not to, then marriage equality could resume in California in short order. That, combined with the recent election results, could move a significant percentage of the country's population into areas with marriage equality.
The countdown continues. Only 3 days left until this historic Supreme Court freedom to marry case. Lines have been forming out side the Supreme Court for days now. The polling is moving in our favor at a rapid pace. Even a hundred some prominent republicans have made the jump to supporting marriage equality. There are some big events in DC, but you don't have to go that far to have a piece of history with this landmark case, because events are being held all across the country and across North Carolina.
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