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Charlotte Observer: A bad week for marriage in N.C.

The Charlotte Observer, our sister McClatchy paper, had this to say about Amendment One this week. Find The N&O's editorial position on Sunday's editorial page.

 

 

A bad week for marriage in N.C.

Public infidelities a reminder of amendment’s selective morality

 

North Carolinians had some bipartisan, high-profile reminders last week that while some among us might see gay unions as a threat to marriage, the institution is already taking a pretty good pummeling from heterosexuals.

First, there was the ongoing, shower-inducing trial of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, at which we learned that the star witness against the philandering former Democratic candidate for president is a married political aide who also engaged in an adulterous one-night stand.

Later in the week, the (Raleigh) News & Observer told us of Charles Thomas, the chief of staff of Republican N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis. Thomas, a former one-term lawmaker from Asheville, resigned after being caught carrying on with a lobbyist for the homebuilding industry. The apparent affair might have been deliciously ironic given Tillis’ support for Amendment One, except for the sobering reality that two spouses were surely seeing their families in tatters, thanks to a now-public infidelity.

So tell us again what we’re protecting marriage from on May 8?

In one week, North Carolina will vote on Amendment One, which would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in the state. You’ll read much in the next seven days about the amendment and its potentially harmful impact, legal and otherwise. But it was the past seven days that reminded us again how at least some of those who support the amendment are engaging in selective morality in their effort to get government tangled this deeply in its citizens’ behavior.

You’ve heard those moral arguments, of course – how scripture has harsh words for homosexuality, including labeling it an “abomination.” Let’s set aside the fact that some Biblical scholars disagree on the specifics and intent of the nine passages commonly cited in the condemnation of homosexuality. Wouldn’t infidelity, by scriptural measure, be worse? After all, adultery rises to the level of being addressed by one of the commandments that Moses cradled.

But while some can’t flip to Leviticus fast enough when the topic of same-sex marriage comes up, no one is rushing forth with legislation outlawing infidelity. The simple reason: We don’t want to have government that deeply involved in legislating our behaviors.

Yes, we’re a country based on laws that spring from our values, and those values are rooted historically in the faith of our forefathers. But those laws, for the most part, are protective – they shield us from harmful behavior, not merely behavior with which we disagree.

We have yet to see a compelling argument that a committed same-sex marriage is harmful to anyone, let alone the institution of marriage. What Amendment One does, then, is give us a government mired in regulating sin. That, along with the amendment’s discriminatory intent, should give North Carolinians good reason to pause one week from today.



Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/30/3209351/a-bad-week-for-marriage-in-nc.html#storylink=cpy

Find it here.

Amendment One: Nearly 50 more letters

And, no, we aren't hiding the pro-amendment ones.

You can find more letters about Amendment One on tomorrow's Other Opinion page and in Sunday Forum this Sunday. Here are almost four dozen more:

Ex-senator's refrain: Marriage amendment hits sour note

Charlie Albertson was a familiar figure in the General Assembly. He served for 22 years, mostly in the Senate, until he decided not to run again in 2010. The one-time farmer hails from Beulaville, down in Duplin County. He's country in more ways than one.

Albertson's main claim to fame must be that he's an accomplished country singer-songwriter. The N&O's Jack Bernhardt, in a 2010 review of a collection of Albertson's songs, had this to say: "With songs centered on down-home values of marriage, family, fidelity and faith, our singing senator lets us know that, whatever else he may be, Charlie Albertson is one of us."

It turns out that when Albertson applied his down-home values to the question of whether North Carolina needs a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, this was one Eastern North Carolina, in-touch-with-the-grass-roots Democratic politician whose answer was "Nope." Here are his thoughts, which he recently shared:

Durham GOP backs 'marriage amendment'

The Durham County Republican Party is in favor of the proposed "marriage amendment" to the North Carolina constitution, which goes to voters in the May 8 primary election.

In a resolution sent today to the Durham County Board of Commissioners and the Durham City Council, the party announced its support for Amendment 1, which specifics that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be recognized or valid in this State."

Among their reasons for supporting the amendment, the resolution states that it:

  • "Does not diminish the existing rights and liberties of North Carolinians";
  • "Does not limit the rights of private citizens to contract";
  • "Protects us from fundamental change in our law by the judiciary or the legislature without a vote of the people";
  • "Can be changed by the citizens of North Carolina in the future."

The resolution also states "the traditional institution of marriage is a bulwark for liberty and the common good"; and makes several references to a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling interpreting that state's constitution to permit same-sex marriage and the Massachusetts legislature's refusal to put the question to a popular vote.

Durham Republicans approved the resolution at its March party convention.

The Marriage Amendment: Mostly very vocal opposition - Take 3

Many more letters rolling in now that the N.C. House and Senate have voted to let the public decide whether a ban on same-sex marriage should be written into the state constitution. Here are 16 new ones, including a few, finally, that are pro-amendment. (No, conspiracy theorists, we haven't just been keeping the pro-amendment letters to ourselves. We hadn't gotten any.)  Some of these you will see in print over the next few days.

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