NC Amendment 1

[Kerreth]

Take it away, Wil Wheaton.



For those who aren't in the loop, , which codifies in the state constitution that "Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State." In effect, it bars both same-sex marriage as well as civil unions/domestic partnerships. Unofficial results are saying around 61% of voters voted in favor of it.

What the fuck North Carolina? This is ri-goddamn-diculous.

Same-sex marriage was already not recognized there. But apparently, some people felt soooooooooo insecure about marriage, that they decided they'd make it even MORE illegal, as silly as "more illegal" sounds when you apply it to... pretty much anything. "You guys already can't get married, now let's make it so you can't get married." What?

At the very least, there's 3/4 of a country and a fucking ocean separating me from there. The civil unions that we have in Hawaii now (as of 1/1/2012) aren't perfect (I'm sketchy on the details but THEY EXIST), but hey, it's much better than .

In closing, North Carolina, here's some pseudo-SQL for you.

INSERT INTO North_Carolina VALUES ('Equality', 'Kindness', 'Common Fucking Sense')

[Adol The Red]

[Fixxxer 117]

Not meaning to offend anyone here, but I am amazed at how retarted the American government can be sometimes. Although to be fair, Australia isn't perfect either. Take the age ratings on videos games for example. Long story shirt, some stupid person wants to make it so that people under that age of 18 can't buy ma15+ games, which kind if defeats the purpose of having the rating in the first place.

[Farore]

Since it is pretty late and I am pretty tired I won't go into a ton of detail since many valid points have already been made. I will say that this entire fiasco that has been going on about gay marriage seems all to familiar.

Interracial marriage anyone? It was "wrong". It was going to "ruin society". Children wouldn't be raised correctly. People would spontaneously burst into flames any time one occurred. And a bunch more silly arguments that.. surprise surprise.. didn't turn out to be true. Bigotry and hate bred the opposition to interracial marriage, and it is doing the same for gay marriage.

People claim their opposition to gay marriage is to retain the sanctity of marriage. What sanctity I ask? We have people getting married and divorced (or annulled) in mere months, sometimes days even. Countless "couples" are married solely for tax benefits and breaks. Men and women that have been married into the double digits! Again, my brain is ready for sleep mode so I won't go any further with that.

I've heard that argument that gay marriage devalues marriage. Um... how exactly? Two people who have fallen in love want to solidify their commitment to each other before man and God. How is that different than a "regular" marriage? For that matter how is gay marriage hurting anyone? When a gay couple is married are 17 people struck down by lighting in the building next door? Is their limo driver destined to drive off a cliff? Is the earth itself going to open up and allow Hell to swallow us whole? I don't think so.

"I don't think it's right, so yes it hurts me." Every time I hear this argument I literally want to punch the person who uses it in the face. Hard. I don't think it's right that girls cake makeup on their face every day, but is it hurting me? Nope. Not even a little. I don't do it, but I respect the right of others to. I know that is kind of a horrible parallel to use as an example, but I'm going to cop out on the needing sleep thing again. The point is there are many things people don't think are the right thing, but that doesn't mean they are the wrong thing, either.

Why is it that a man and a woman that hate each other can be married, but two men (or women) that love each other can't? Marriage is so "sacred" that the entire purpose and commitment can be bypassed so long as it is a man and woman? Gah, the irritation that this entire argument brings me.

Finally, I personally have never heard an argument against gay marriage that didn't have a foundation in religious beliefs. Are the some? Possibly, but I doubt it. The majority of people that oppose gay marriage do so based on their religious beliefs. As Adol pointed out we are supposed to have a separation of church and state. This is a very clear breakdown of the system.

I can no longer think coherently and can't remember what all I've said, but hopefully I've gotten a few points across. Sorry if that jumped around a lot.

[Kerreth]

came up in my feed through Wil Wheaton's retweeting of it, and I just hope it turns out to be true.

"These two pictures will be viewed/judged identically by our children and their children."

[Kerreth]

Also speaking of interracial marriage... FUN FACT: The last time North Carolina ever amended their constitution to modify marriage? It was in 1875. Know what it was for?



Yep, banning interracial marriage. Hello parallel.

[chrisb]

Sigh. I'm a religious person (very liberal), but keep religion out of the government please. Telling someone they can't get married because it goes against your religion is like telling people to stop eating McDonalds because you are on a diet.

Gay people deserve to get married. They seem to be some of the few groups who appreciate it anyway. This stupidity will pass just like segregation did.

Sanctity of marriage? How can the Kardashians bang and marry someone and get a divorce 1 weeks later, but 2 women or men who have been together forever can't?

[Bear]

This whole thing is pretty silly to me. It's amazing how differently states can act on issues; they might as well be different countries. I was going to bring the whole interracial thing up too, but Farore already nailed it. Considering that when my mom and dad were married, it was considered a bit dicey for them, my mom being white and my dad being hispanic and all.

I sort of stopped getting worked up about this kind of stuff though. These sorts of things take time and it seems like a lot of adults don't bother challenging their biases or ways of thinking. Like Adol said, it feels like a bit of cowardice, but regardless people and their ways of thinking don't change overnight. Being upset at people who can't change isn't going to fix the issue either because there will always be people that way.

[Kerreth]

Well, there are that aren't directly religious, but:

A. They're mostly spouted off by devoutly religious people, and
B. See middle column.

[Tehwilburforce]

Yeah, my state is on that list of stupid ones... (Srsly... F**k Texas...)

Anyway, I can't help but be annoyed by people who feel the need to do this to the gay community. They are taking a religion which I have been raised to believe is loving and forgiving and using it to justify hatred of others. I could go on and on about what verses of the Bible are perfect for contradicting these idiots' claims, but I will refrain. Simply put, I think God just wants us to be cool to each other and help people because that's what you'd want for yourself, anyway. Also, indeed Crispy, despite my religious beliefs, I also highly advocate separation of church and state. It's one essential part of the constitution that keeps everyone happy and free.