Despite Survey Suggesting Majority Of North Carolinians Supporting Same Sex Marriage Republicans Forge Ahead With Proposal To Amend Constitution Banning Gay Unions; Historic Homophobe Mecklenburg County Commissioner James Says Bill Is Not Just Preventative But To “Put A Big Letter Of Shame On The Behaviour”

The Charlotte Observer reports on North Carolina State Senator James Forrester (Republican-Gaston County) and his intention to introduce a bill that would request voters write a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. Forrester has filed the bill consistently since 2004, but the proposal has never made it to a full vote as Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. However, now Republicans control the legislation and Forrester is confident that the bill will move through hearings and pass both chambers. "I think we have enough votes to get it passed," he said. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers, and similar bills in past years have drawn bi-partisan support. The proposed amendment would go on the 2012 ballot if three-fifths of the House and Senate vote in favour. The governor cannot veto proposed constitutional amendments. In 2007, a House bill calling for a same-sex marriage constitutional ban had 66 sponsors and co-sponsors (six people short of the votes needed to pass) in a year when Republicans were in the minority. The bill made it out of a House committee, but then House-Speaker Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, used the power of his office to kill the proposal. This year's Senate bill has 23 sponsors. If it gets to the Senate floor, it can pass even if only the 30 Republicans vote for it. North Carolina already has a law banning same sex marriage, but proponents of the constitutional amendment said it is not sufficient, saying it is vulnerable to changes by future legislatures or a judicial system who thinks it is wrong, Forrester saying "It prevents a liberal judge from saying 'no.' " Opponents of a constitutional amendment say it is not necessary because the state already has the law, Ian Palmquist, executive director of the gay-rights group Equality North Carolina, saying "This is about sending a message that gay and lesbian people are second-class citizens," adding that there is no likelihood of getting a successful challenge to the law through the North Carolina courts. The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, is giving Equality N.C. $10,000 for work to keep the question off the ballot. Forrester’s intensified anti-same sex marriage efforts arrive as a new poll conducted by Elon University Poll indicates that a majority of North Carolinians actually oppose a same sex marriage ban. According to results of the survey, which called 467 adults from February 20th to 24th, more than 55-percent would oppose the marriage ban amendment, while about 38-percent would support it. The poll is a survey of households, not registered voters, so it is not an accurate indication of how such a question would fare on a ballot. States began their efforts to write same-sex marriage bans into their constitutions about the time Forrester filed his first bill. A 2003 ruling by the highest court in Massachusetts that denying marriage to same-sex couples was unconstitutional triggered a wave of bans in other states. Amendment proponents in North Carolina said then that married same-sex couples might move from Massachusetts to North Carolina and demand that their marriages be recognized. Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James, a historic homophobe and a longtime supporter of the ban, said the amendment would make a moral statement. "The purpose is not just to prevent Massachusetts people coming down," he said. "It's also to put a big letter of shame on the behaviour. We don't want them here. We don't want them marrying. If you're going to do it in San Francisco, it's your own business." Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt (Democrat-Ashville) said there is no need for a constitutional amendment on same sex marriage, adding that there should be a high threshold for amendments.