Amendment One vote maintains conservative Southern tendencies
Years before the idea for this hateful amendment was ever conceived, same-sex marriage was legally prohibited in the state of North Carolina. Even if the amendment had been defeated by the voters, North Carolina statutory law prohibiting same-sex marriage would have remained intact. It was an utterly pointless measure reflecting the homophobic tendencies of lawmakers in my home state and, sadly, also the vast majority of North Carolinians. I worked the polls all day, passionately appealing to voters, trying to inform them that North Carolina Amendment One wasn't even about same-sex marriage, like all the ads depicted. It was about taking that extra step, denying homosexual couples the right to any legally recognized relationship, tearing apart thousands of families and enshrining in the constitution of my great state bigoted morality based on outdated Old Testament interpretations.
I was appalled by some of the things I heard from voters that day. So few were aware of the implications of the amendment's success, and many refused to listen as I calmly made my case. A significant number of voters told me their pastor advised them a certain way to vote and that was it. Pleas for tolerance fell on deaf ears throughout the county, according to other poll workers with whom I spoke. In fact, I haven't encountered a defense of Amendment One devoid of significant reliance on the mandates of Leviticus. That includes the arguments of well-educated conservative politicians.
The case I was trying to make to the voters was simple: 1) There is no occasion in which the majority is ever justified in denying rights to a minority group. 2) It is no business of the government to legislate misinterpreted Christian morality, or any theology for that matter. Ironically, Amendment One violates the greater message of the messiah supporters so vehemently claim to follow. 3) Heterosexual couples have done a masterful job of defiling the sanctity of "traditional marriage" as the divorce statistics clearly indicate, so any attempt to prohibit same-sex marriage by arguing for traditionalism is baseless.
The North Carolina vote does not represent the general trend of the nation. It is simply an old Southern holdout resisting a positive social movement which will ultimately prevail. I can only hope that day will come sooner, rather than later.
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