The "Gay Marriage Ban"amendment is on North Carolina's ballot for May 2012. I encourage everyone to read up on this amendment before voting. I did a little research and the amendment sounds similarly limiting to the one voted for in South Carolina in 2007.
The amendment is redundant in that gay marriage is already illegal in NC. There is already no legal question of whether or not gays and lesbians can get married here! They can't, and it's no secret. Why put this bill into law then?
This amendment will impact straight couples as well: it has the potential to interfere with domestic violence laws, child custody situations, and estate/trusts. Heterosexual couples living together but not married, or involved in civil unions, may face challenges with child custody and domestic violence enforcement from the rigid way that this amendment will define marriage, and who can and can't benefit from the status of being married.
For me, the most offensive part of my research is a quote I found by one of our Senators, James Forrester, who was the sponsor of this bill. Senator Forrester recently passed away, so I won't freak out too much, but others obviously share his views.
He was quoted as saying, "Moms and dads are not interchangeable. Two dads don't make a mom. Two moms don’t make a dad. Children need both a father and a mother.”
This quote is a great representation of the kind of thinking that supports this bill, and it screams of sexism, stereotyping and discrimination! "Children need both a father and a mother," ??? What does this say about single parents, grandparents, or all the other people who raise children? If only a traditional nuclear family = successful children! Heck, many of us did have that typical family and still didn't turn out that great!
Supporters of this bill must not realize how many of North Carolina's families do not fit into his Leave it to Beaver model of a nuclear family as the only fit family to raise a child. Zach Wahls is the young man in the video, and he's here to tell us he's doing great, despite not having an "ideal" family.
The percentage of children in single parent households in our fine state is THIRTY SEVEN PERCENT! * Are all those parents unfit as well? Hopefully, this video will broaden some views about one of the MANY ways people can form a family.
Here is a link to all the Senators in North Carolina, and all of their contact information, in case you feel like sharing your thoughts with them ;)
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate
* http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/Rankings.aspx?ind=106
The amendment is redundant in that gay marriage is already illegal in NC. There is already no legal question of whether or not gays and lesbians can get married here! They can't, and it's no secret. Why put this bill into law then?
This amendment will impact straight couples as well: it has the potential to interfere with domestic violence laws, child custody situations, and estate/trusts. Heterosexual couples living together but not married, or involved in civil unions, may face challenges with child custody and domestic violence enforcement from the rigid way that this amendment will define marriage, and who can and can't benefit from the status of being married.
For me, the most offensive part of my research is a quote I found by one of our Senators, James Forrester, who was the sponsor of this bill. Senator Forrester recently passed away, so I won't freak out too much, but others obviously share his views.
He was quoted as saying, "Moms and dads are not interchangeable. Two dads don't make a mom. Two moms don’t make a dad. Children need both a father and a mother.”
This quote is a great representation of the kind of thinking that supports this bill, and it screams of sexism, stereotyping and discrimination! "Children need both a father and a mother," ??? What does this say about single parents, grandparents, or all the other people who raise children? If only a traditional nuclear family = successful children! Heck, many of us did have that typical family and still didn't turn out that great!
Supporters of this bill must not realize how many of North Carolina's families do not fit into his Leave it to Beaver model of a nuclear family as the only fit family to raise a child. Zach Wahls is the young man in the video, and he's here to tell us he's doing great, despite not having an "ideal" family.
The percentage of children in single parent households in our fine state is THIRTY SEVEN PERCENT! * Are all those parents unfit as well? Hopefully, this video will broaden some views about one of the MANY ways people can form a family.
Here is a link to all the Senators in North Carolina, and all of their contact information, in case you feel like sharing your thoughts with them ;)
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate
* http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/Rankings.aspx?ind=106
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1 comments:
Thank you for posting this! My friend posted this on Facebook earlier and I watched it on there. Listening to what Zach Wahls had to say brought tears to my eyes. I have never had any qualms about gay marriage- so I never thought how being raised by two men or two women would have a negative effect on a child.
When Wahls said, "A sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other..it comes from the love that binds us-that's what makes a family...", I think says a lot.
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