Emotions fuel debate over N.C. anti-gay marriage amendment

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/11/03/1132794?sac=Local

The proposed constitutional amendment prompted protests at the General Assembly in Raleigh, the arguments made loud and long. One side predicted the collapse of the family unit and the end of traditional marriage. The other called it a matter of progress. Fairness. Civil rights.

But this wasn't 2011, and the amendment was not about defining marriage in the state constitution, which goes before voters next May.
In 1977, state lawmakers were debating whether to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a measure that would outlaw discrimination based on gender.

snip

The state House passed the amendment that February, but the Senate voted it down. The federal measure did not require voter approval, but failed to get the support of the three-fifths of state legislatures necessary to cement it in the nation's highest law.

The emotional debate was in contrast to the climate that has spawned other amendments to the state constitution, most of which have passed - or failed - without the kind of impassioned debate that surrounds the marriage issue.

[MADem]

1. What fucking assholes. Unemployment is in double digit range, kids are poorly educated,

life is insecure for a substantial number of their population, and they're worrying about who's zooming who?

Please.

There's a ripe target to "Occupy" if you ask me.