“Out of the bars and into the streets!”
On Tuesday night, a young man in glasses, a blue shirt and yellow tie led a chant made famous in 1977 by activist Harvey Milk, dubbed the Mayor of Castro Street in San Francisco. Milk led 3,000 angry gays and lesbians on a five mile march through San Francisco after a conservative-led reversal of a civil rights ordinance in Miami that made discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal.
Petra’s Bar on Commonwealth Avenue became a makeshift Castro Street Tuesday night after Amendment One passed.
Many bar goers took to the streets after 61 percent of voters passed a constitutional action that makes marriage between one man and one woman the only legal union in the state. While the ramifications of the amendment are still unknown, LaWana Mayfield, the first openly gay elected official in Charlotte, said the city of Charlotte will go forward with its plan to offer domestic-partnership benefits to its employees. City Manager Curt Walton has also been a proponent of offering health and wellness benefits to same-sex couples.
North Carolina is the last Southern state, and 31st overall, to pass a constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage. Amendment One, as it’s commonly referred to, will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
The disappointment and heartache was palpable after it passed Tuesday evening. Teal-shirted volunteers from the Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families held on to each other as the local news showed the election returns. Tears and shouts of anger soon followed.
“The community as a whole missed an opportunity to make stand against discrimination and there are going to be repercussions,” Mayfield said.
Like Milk, who after that 1977 march became the first openly gay elected official in the United States, Mayfield is determined and hopeful. She said the constitutional amendment will not regulate how the city views finding and retaining quality staff.
“We may be the test case where we recognize the importance of making sure all of our employees have equal access,” she said. “We’re not going to let this stop us.”
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The unifying power of Amendment One
This article appears in May 8-14, 2012.
Awesome! I hope this isn’t shot down.
Interesting that a city that is as middle of the Red/Blue line as Charlotte would do this yet a solid Blue area like Durham or Raleigh has not. Is this their excuse not to offer benefits to same-sex couples and save a few bucks? Or have they and it just hasn’t been widely reported? Anyone know?
I’m confused as to why this amendment/issue is such a BIG deal.
Our country is in a state of turmoil, and the LBGT community feels that this issue is of the utmost importance. They are ALWAYS trying to force their viewpoints on others.
Here’s some FACTS:
According to the 2000 Census 1% of American households are homosexual.
According the latest gallup poll, less than 10% of the population is homosexual.
The same gallup poll also showed that average person estimated the homosexual population to be 20%. (DOUBLE what it actually is, the idiot box/movies are working)
The current unemployment rate is right at 10%.
I don’t about you all, but I feel that unemployment, the economy, international policies, white collar crime, and corruption in congress are way MORE IMPORTANT issues to be tackling than this one. I mean our state is BROKE, do you all know that?
My open ended question to everyone, especially the LBGT community, is why can’t we tackle the more pressing issues first? The same percentage of people are unemployed/homosexual, which one takes precedence over the other?
Lastly, I just want to state that I’m all for equal treatment under the law. However, there are more important things for our lawmakers/community to be spending time on than this. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!
WoodIfYouCould, since you copy-and-pasted your point from another thread, I’ll copy-and-paste my reply here:
Should the LGBT community and their supporters in the state have simply shrugged their shoulders when the moral crusaders on the far right decided to try and further marginalize them and strip them of more rights (and unmarried straight couples too, even), and what, not voted? Not protested?
I’m not sure what you’re arguing, considering who’s on the offense and who’s on the defense.
No Stu, I don’t think any group of people should let something happen to them if they don’t agree. To that same point I wasn’t arguing, just bringing facts to the table hoping that some people will read it and realize whats being done.
Do you really need a reminder of what else we should be writing open letters or talking about? If you do, you’re either oblivous or a complete moron.
ABOVE THE INFLUENCE, think for yourself.
The irony of the abusive party that went through all of bureaucratic hoops to amend the state constitution is claiming that there are too many REAL issues needing attention for people to fight back when their rights are being trampled.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
For someone who claims he would like for folks to focus on other issues, WouldIfYouCould sure is obsessed with this one — to such an extent that he copies and pastes old comments into new threads. He’s pretty much the very definition of a troll.