North Carolina voters have made the state the 30th in the U.S. to define marriage within a constitution as between a man and a woman, passing a proposal that had drawn nationwide attention by a margin even larger than pre-election surveys.
With all counties reported, the amendment passed easily May 8, 61–39 percent.
Critics said the North Carolina amendment was unnecessary because the state already defines marriage in the traditional sense, but supporters countered that North Carolina needed such an amendment to prevent a state court from legalizing gay “marriage,” as happened in Massachusetts, Iowa and Connecticut. Judges can overturn statutes but not constitutional amendments.
The amendment passed despite supporters being outspent on ads by a margin of about 2–to–1, and despite opponents running TV ads claiming the amendment would negatively impact health insurance for children and the state’s domestic violence laws. Opponents avoided the issue of gay “marriage” altogether.
“This not only sends … a message to North Carolina, but this sends a message to the whole country,” Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, told the Biblical Recorder newspaper. “And that is what people of this country want to see — marriage remain as one man and one woman.”
It wasn’t the only loss of the night for national gay rights groups. In Colorado, the GOP-led House recessed without considering a same-sex civil unions bill, killing it for the session. Some observers thought it had the votes to pass.
After watching the North Carolina results, Tom Jensen of the left-leaning Public Policy Polling sent out a tweet, saying, “Hate to say it but I don’t believe polls showing majority support for gay ‘marriage’ nationally. Any time there’s a vote it doesn’t back it up.”
Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, the amendment passed in 93. The coalition formed to promote the amendment, Vote For Marriage NC, didn’t shy away from religion in urging voters to support it. One ad ended with an image of a Bible as a narrator explained that the amendment “protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman, just as God designed it.” In the heart of the Bible Belt, the ad resonated. Having Billy Graham support the amendment in 14 newspaper ads the weekend before election day helped, too.
Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Vote FOR Marriage NC, said her state had waited long enough to vote on the issue.
“We are thankful to God and to the people of North Carolina for joining together … to preserve marriage as the union between one man and one woman in our state constitution,” Fitzgerald said in a post-election statement. “North Carolinians have been waiting for nearly a decade to protect marriage — a sacred institution authored by God — from being redefined against the will of the people.” (BP)
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