[$h@key J0nEZ]

Originally Posted by yahoo news

North Carolina voters ban gay marriage, civil unions


North Carolinians voted to change the state constitution Tuesday to say that the only valid "domestic legal partnership" in the state is marriage between a man and a woman, according to the AP's projection. The amendment passed 61 to 39 percent with most counties reporting, making North Carolina the 29th state to pass a voter ban on gay marriage.

The state already outlawed gay marriage, but the constitutional amendment makes it more difficult for politicians to ever change the law. The amendment also means that a handful of North Carolina municipalities that extended benefits to the domestic partners of their employees will no longer be able to do so, since marriage is now the only valid legal partnership in the state. Former President Bill Clinton urged the state's voters not to support the amendment in robocalls, while President Obama's office said he was also against the change.

Supporters of gay marriage out-raised and out-advertised their opponents in the lead up to the vote, emphasizing in TV ads that the amendment could also have repercussions for unmarried straight couples because of its vague language. The anti-amendment coalition raised more than $2 million, according to campaign finance disclosures, most of which came from small and large individual donations. The pro-amendment crowd, called Vote for Marriage NC, raised just over $1 million, with most of the money being donated by nonprofit groups, not individuals.

Only 46 percent of voters realized that the amendment would ban civil unions for gay couples as well as marriage, according to a Public Policy Polling poll. A majority of North Carolina voters support civil unions.

Minnesota faces a ballot gay marriage ban in November, while Maine activists are hoping that residents have changed their minds and will vote to approve gay marriage this November after repealing its legalization in 2009. Lawmakers in Maryland, Washington and New Jersey passed laws legalizing same sex marriage this yaer, though Gov. Chris Christie vetoed New Jersey's law.

This should be a interesting thread. It seems to me to be one of those issues where the separation of church and state is necessary to provide equal rights for queers etc. Thoughts?

[Pballerjosh]

Seems unnecessary since NC already banned gay marriage. I don't understand taking away rights even further...

[F1VENOM]

Reddit sums this up pretty well.

[p8ntballoc11]

not gay, don't really care.

[Iamamartianchurch]

And cue the ****storm for either side who can't figure out what marriage is for. Round and round.

[tsbalr120]

Why people are against something that doesn't even affect them is beyond me.

[Jagov Fapsky (Banned)]

maybe it makes them feel like their marriage is worth less if queers can do it

[Captain A v2.0]

I always suspected race mixing is communism but never had proof.

[Frank101]

Stupid ruling, should be challenged under equal protection clause in the US Constitution. I'm all for states rights, but more importantly individual rights, you can't just deny people the same rights granted to other citizens forming the same kind of contract because you think it is icky...

What gets me is the stupid-*** statements from people on both sides. Someone on my wall claimed that NC would never see a penny of her money in tourism...like she had any intention of vactioning their to begin with. GTFO

[frankie says chillax]

it just a bunch of ignorant, pissed off rednecks who fear what they don't understand.

love how NC is really taking care of some important issues right now...

[The Inflicted]

Does anyone really see these gay marriage bans, even the constitutional ones, lasting more than a decade?

[drgonzo]

Rights are not subject to majority vote.

[barrel roll]

Originally Posted by drgonzo

Rights are not subject to majority vote.

Well...they kind of are. How do you think the 18th amendment came about?

And to head everyone off at the pass, yes woman's suffrage played a HUGE role in the Prohibition.

Originally Posted by Jagov Fapsky

maybe it makes them feel like their marriage is worth less if queers can do it

Marriage is worth little to begin with, with the exception of the automatic contracts it grants the parties involved.

Honestly, the only reason I got married was to get a couple hundred extra dollars a month while I was still in the military. My wife and I already had the level of commitment, and we were happy. Now... we pay more in taxes. Might get divorced so we pay less

[slateman]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

Well...they kind of are. How do you think the 18th amendment came about?

And to head everyone off at the pass, yes woman's suffrage played a HUGE role in the Prohibition.



Marriage is worth little to begin with, with the exception of the automatic contracts it grants the parties involved.

Honestly, the only reason I got married was to get a couple hundred extra dollars a month while I was still in the military. My wife and I already had the level of commitment, and we were happy. Now... we pay more in taxes. Might get divorced so we pay less

LOL, now that would be funny

[StellarKnight]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

And to head everyone off at the pass, yes woman's suffrage played a HUGE role in the Prohibition.

?

This is a new one for me.

[barrel roll]

Originally Posted by StellarKnight

?

This is a new one for me.

Seriously!? You're not trolling me?

[slateman]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

Seriously!? You're not trolling me?

Probably not. But, go ahead and give everyone a history lesson

*grabs stool, snack, and juice box*

[StellarKnight]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

Seriously!? You're not trolling me?

Nope. Both were Progressive era ideas, but the 19th amendment typically comes later in time than the 18th. Not that I'm disagreeing with you; I've truly never heard an argument for the connection between the two.

Originally Posted by slateman

Probably not.

Yes, because you've demonstrated how incredibly well versed you are in the ways of the world.

[barrel roll]

The leaders of the Woman's Suffrage movement were first early supporters of the Temperance movement, this includes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Temperance movement spawned the Prohibition Party that died shortly after the 18th amendment (Prohibition) was ratified. The Temperance Movement believed alcohol was the cause for the majority of the problems facing the country (and countries, the movement was in Europe too). They pushed for everything from laws making alcohol harder to get down to outright prohibition. People argue that their fall from public grace was when they tried to legislate morality further, with Sabbath laws. I argue the moment anyone tries to legislate morality, they are screwing up.

"Oh, my America, will you listen to us, the motherhood of the land……Listen, I plead with you, do you not know it? You have our firstborn boys in your penitentiaries and asylums because of the licensed saloon, but we have other boys, boys in school, baby boys in the cradle,---must they go the same way? Will you continue to take our boys from our arms, grind them through your saloons into the penitentiary, and from the penitentiary into hell? It is a serious matter, it is important not only for the defense of the flag, but for the work of the Kingdom of God that something be done to save our boys from utter destruction.

You have driven us to take a firm stand these days. There is not a right-minded woman in the United States of America who would ever have dreamed of asking for the ballot if you men folk had done your duty by your own home. But you did not do it. We would rather be at home with the cradle by the fireside; we love the dear, sweet joys with which your surround us; we love the fireside and all of those things that we receive from the hands of love, but you have made this impossible, and today we are clamoring for the ballot, and some of you are astonished that we ask it. Do you think we are asking for the ballot for the sake of cleaning up politics? As near as I can make out politics is almost more than you men can clean up. No, we are asking for the ballot that we may defend our own business, and when we get the ballot you may just as well know what we will do with it. We will be true to our house-keeping instincts, we will just roll that ballot into a mop and wipe up the last inch of wet territory around about us."

Carolyn E. Geisel, Speeches of the Flying Squadron, Hanley and Stewart, Indianapolis, 1915 pp. 415-416.

Get your reading glasses on:
http://home.comcast.net/~mruland/USR...m.htm#suffrage


They also pushed for child labor regulation, better schools, some union stuff, and a few more things I can't remember.

Keep in mind, women were fighting for the right to vote from about the Civil War until 1919.

[StellarKnight]

Lousy Susan B. Anthony

That looks like a pretty useful website; looks like my afternoon is hereby wasted . . .

[SevenGold-IV]

Originally Posted by StellarKnight

That looks like a pretty useful website; looks like my afternoon is hereby wasted . . .

Blasphemy! Studying history is never a waste of time. I'm certain that if more people in this country studied and (more importantly) learned from history we would be far better off as a nation.