The North Carolina General Assembly is experiencing marital conflict, and divorce is not an option.
At competing press conferences Tuesday at the Legislative Building, lawmakers once again sparred over the most divisive social issue of the session — an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman and banning same-sex marriage. The issue already is drawing national attention as legislators prepare to convene next week to place constitutional amendments on the state ballot.
Democrats came out swinging by claiming that a same-sex marriage ban would hurt North Carolina’s economy by scaring away businesses.
“Instead of welcoming the corporations and businesses to North Carolina, we tackle a subject which has every indication of being harmful for business in North Carolina,” said House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange.
Democrats claim that a version of the amendment introduced in the Senate would ban private companies from offering domestic partner benefits to their homosexual employees. Even further, it would discourage companies from locating to the state, they say.
“It’s the wrong time and the wrong issue,” said Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland. “Right now, what this state needs is stability and predictability, and what we need to do is focus on the issue that our people want us to focus on, and that’s their jobs, their families, their income, and our economic progress as a society.”
Republicans countered that the domestic-partnership ban is limited to state and local government recognition and doesn’t affect private contracts between individuals.
A key backer of the amendment, Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, pointed to rankings by Forbes showing that eight of the top 10 best-for-business states have same-sex marriage bans in their constitutions. Washington and North Carolina are the exceptions, although both outlaw same-sex marriage by statute.
If passed by a three-fifths majority of both chambers of the legislature, the amendment would go on the ballot in 2012 for final approval by voters. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue doesn’t have a say on the issue because governors can’t veto constitutional amendments.
A recent poll by the conservative Civitas Institute found that 49 percent of unaffiliated voters favor the amendment, while 43 percent were opposed. In that demographic, voters under 25 years old were most likely to support the amendment, a result conflicting with conventional wisdom that young voters tend to be more liberal on the issue.
An hour after Democrats opened fire on the proposed amendment, Republicans convened their own press conference alongside leaders in the black community. Much of their comments centered on criticizing same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue.
“It is offensive to equate an obsession with immoral, unnatural sexual behaviors with being black,” said Dr. Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church in Fayetteville. “When I see homosexual rights activists today saying that men having sex with men is the same thing as being black, I am offended and disgusted, because they are ‘dissing’ the foot soldiers of the early civil rights movement.”
Dr. Patrick Wooden, pastor of Raleigh’s Upper Room Church of God in Christ, said that a decline in traditional marriage has done damage to the black community. He added that Christian pastors should have the right to voice their views on the topic.
“When the state gets in the business of pushing immorality … then we’re well within our rights as ministers to speak up,” he said.
In addition to the marriage amendment, lawmakers are expected to debate amendments addressing eminent domain, term limits for legislative leaders, and governance of the state Department of Public Instruction.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.