Marriage Issues in the News Quotes

Meanwhile, opponents in North Carolina and Indiana are looking at amending the state Constitution – which would also involve going to the ballot. So far, in no state have voters supported full marriage equality.

General Assembly preview: Who, what to look for in North Carolina politics,

Though Republicans in North Carolina haven’t been the only threat to equality and progress — there are plenty of anti-LGBT Democrats to be found — the GOP has nonetheless been home to some of the most ardent anti-equality proponents this state has ever seen. Year-after-year, Republicans in the state House and Senate have led the push for an anti-LGBT, anti-family constitutional amendment that would ban recognition of same-sex marriage. Leading Republicans, like former House Minority Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) stood firmly opposed to landmark legislation like 2009’s School Violence Prevention Act (SVPA) and Healthy Youth Act (HYA), going so far as to insinuate a connection between LGBT people and pedophilia and denouncing gays as a danger to children while in the presence of Sen. Julia Boseman (D-Hanover), at the time the state’s first and only openly gay or lesbian member of the General Assembly.

Forrester said he has introduced a bill to ban same-sex marriage in North Carolina for as long as he can remember. But this year, he’s decided to put it off because of the pressing economic and redistricting issues that will be tackled.

Ian Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, said his organization is “fully expecting” that a constitutional amendment banning both same-sex marriage and marriage-like unions will advance this year.