CHARLOTTE, NC — Will North Carolina’s ban on same sex marriage be thrown out next?
A federal judge in Pennsylvania has cleared the way for gay marriage in the Keystone State. That decision brings the total number of states that now allow gay marriage to 19.
Federal judges, striking down bans on gay marriage in Pennsylvania and Oregon. Voters in Oregon changed the state constitution to recognize marriage as between one man and one woman, just like North Carolina’s Amendment One in 2012.
Newly appointed State Senator Jeff Jackson is fighting to overturn North Carolina’s ban.
“There are places where reasonable people can disagree, and then there are places where the moral argument is overwhelming,” says Senator Jackson. “And I think this is one of those places.”
Groups opposing same-sex marriage argue that these court decisions go against the will of the majority in states. 61percent of voters statewide said “yes” to North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage.
“We are unwavering in our love for homosexual people, and we are unwavering in our opposition to same-sex marriage,” says David Hains of Charlotte’s Catholic Diocese.
Others say banning gay marriage is discrimination based on sexual orientation, and compare it to racial discrimination from another era.
“There was a time when it was illegal for a black person and a white person to be married, and most of us I think are pretty comfortable with that combination now days,” says Rabbi Jonathan Freirich, who is challegning Amendment One in the courts.
There are already challenges to North Carolina’s Amendment One, and many who feel the time is here for Raleigh to right a wrong.
“I don’t think they should have taken it up the first time. And so I think it’s due for an address,” says Charlotte Mayor, and former state senator, Dan Clodfelter. “Tom Tillis has said the very same thing. The Speaker of the House, he thinks it’s only a question of time before he thinks the amendment is reversed.”
Judges have ruled against same-sex marriage bans in half a dozen states since the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out key parts of the Defense of Marriage Act last year.
