Wingnuts Target North Carolina

Living roughly 25 miles or less from the Virginia/North Carolina border and being a frequent visitor to the Outer Banks, hearing about pending legislation in the Tar Heel state is a common occurrence with coverage often appearing in the Virginian Pilot. While North Carolina cannot in any way be described as a progressive state (although it has progressive pockets such as the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area), amazingly to date the Democrats in the North Carolina legislature have been able to keep every effort to enact an anti-gay amendment to the state's constitution. Not surprisingly, this fact drives the Christianist wingnuts crazy and as Pam's House Blend is reporting, an effort is underway to write hate into the North Carolina constitution. Here are highlights from Pam's blog as well as some from Matt Comer at Q-Notes, a fellow LGBT Blogger Summit attendee:

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As the last state in the South without a marriage amendment, North Carolina is a prime target for rally the battle cry of anti-gay religious forces and scare a General Assembly full of legislators who don't want to discuss the issue. For five years the Dems have killed the bill in committee. If it were to make it to a floor vote it would pass because even many of the Dems haven't the spine to publicly oppose the amendment -- they were happy to see it die without debate. If the civil right of Tar Heel same-sex couples to marry were on the ballot it would likely pass.

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As Matt notes, the Christianists are mounting another push to intimidate the legislature:

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A coalition of anti-LGBT, fundamentalist churches has announced it will hold a rally at the North Carolina Legislative building in support of “traditional marriage.” On March 3, churches across the state will bring busloads of rally participants to Halifax Mall, the green park behind the building where state legislators meet daily for legislative work. The rally, expected to draw thousands, is being organized by the Winston-Salem-based Return America. Berean Baptist Church pastor Ron Baity is the organizer.

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Speakers at this year’s rally include anti-gay activists lawyer David Gibbs, III and WallBuilders ministry founder David Barton. On Feb. 22, NC4Marriage will urge pastors and churches to participate in their “Marriage Sunday,” setting aside the day to preach on the place of “traditional marriage” and homosexuality. According to the Christian Action League, Marriage Sunday will also “[inform] congregants about the NC4Marriage campaign to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment.”