Homophobic Marriage Amendment Filed in NC Senate. Equality NC has no comment.

Sen. Jim Forrester (R-Gaston County)

When Paul and I decided to move to North Carolina to be closer to his folks (still a few months away), we knew that as far as our rights were concerned, this was going to be lateral move. The South is, after all, the South.

The one advantage that North Carolina has over Virginia is that there is no constitutional amendment banning marriage equality... yet.

Q-Notes, the LGBT newspaper and website of the Carolinas is reporting that NC Senator James Forrester from Gaston County (where we'll be living) filed the text of a proposed constitutional amendment on Tuesday that he wants on the ballot in 2012.

The text of the proposed amendment, which has not yet been filed in the House, would ban any recognition of any “domestic legal union” other than a marriage between an opposite-sex couple. If approved by the legislature, the amendment would appear on the November 2012 ballot. Three-fifths of both the House and Senate must approve the amendment before it can appear on the ballot; the governor has no veto authority on amendments.

Forrester, a Republican who has been the primary lead on the amendment for the past seven years, was joined in sponsoring the legislation by Jerry W. Tillman (R-Montgomery, Randolph) and Dan Soucek (R-Alexander, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes). Twenty other senators, all Republican, are co-sponsoring the bill. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham) did not sponsor the amendment.

Palmquist said a companion bill was expected in the House, though he had no definitive timeline.

Incredibly, when I checked out the website for Equality NC, there was no mention of Tuesday's development, except for the post they did last Wednesday saying that the measure was circulating and expected to be filed this week. As of this morning, however, there is no update, no reaction, no comment, no press release. Nothing. There is, however,the same call to action that was there last week, but nothing since then.

Shouldn't they have gotten something prepared ahead of time to get out to the press ASAP?

I worked in the non-profit field for 15 years, monitored the news media for relevant stories and wrote press releases. Maybe they're still working on it. Maybe they overslept. Maybe their dog ate it.

Hello, Equality NC? What part of activism and advocacy do you not understand?

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE NO RIGHTS!!

If you're looking for someone to handle your media contacts, press releases, outreach and education, I'm on my way to NC anyway. I can be reached at stevepub123@yahoo.com.