American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

New Ads Show the Consequences of North Carolina’s Amendment to Ban Relationship Recognition

An initiative on North Carolina’s May 8 primary ballot would amend the North Carolina Constitution to ban all forms of non-marital relationship recognition in the state. Not only would Amendment One harm gay and lesbian families, but it would also endanger the children of unmarried parents and put seniors and unmarried women at risk. Today, The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families, the campaign against Amendment One, released their first two TV ads to show the unintended consequences of writing discrimination into the state constitution.

As The Advocate points out, support is critical right now:

“With just over two weeks until the vote on a far-reaching constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and other unions in North Carolina, opponents of the measure say that momentum is building for their side, but more support from national donors will be critical to making their ‘winnable’ campaign a reality.”

The proposed amendment is so drastic and far-reaching that politicians on the left and the right have condemned it. In addition to opposition from President Barack Obama and North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue,  even anti-marriage equality advocates  like David Blankenhorn and Elizabeth Marquardt from the Institute for American Values have drawn the line in the sand:

“[A]s marriage advocates, we oppose the state marriage amendment now being debated in North Carolina. We hope that when North Carolinians go to the polls on May 8 they will defeat this measure.”

David Blankenhorn, you may remember, was the star witness for the Proposition 8 Proponents in the historic Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial. Upon cross-examination by AFER lead co-counsel David Boies, Blankenhorn admitted that we would be more American on the day gay and lesbian couples are allowed to marry.