Where Were the "Good Christians" in North Carolina?

In a blog post today blogger friend Pam Spaulding voiced her disillusionment and hurt over the passage of anti-gay legislation that will put a proposed constitutional amendment banning all legal recognition of same sex couples on the ballot to coincide with the GOP primary next May. I have experienced Pam's pain and hurt since I experienced the same feelings back in November, 2006, when Virginia's heinous Marshall-Newman amendment was passed and banned any and all recognition of same sex relationships (in Virginia pets and their owners now have a stronger legal relationship that do same sex couples). Sadly, the proposed North Carolina constitutional amendment - which was drafted with the help of anti-gay hate groups and Christianist extremists - copied the worse aspects of Virginia's foul amendment. The objective, of course, is to denigrate and stigmatize same sex couples and in effect dehumanize us and our relationships. Here's a sampling of Pam's reaction:

For the first time in a long time – I just bawled driving home; I’m not one to cry easily, either. The North Carolina General Assembly has declared that I’m subhuman – but they’ll gladly take my lesbian tax dollars, thank you very much.

I just need some time to grieve for the state that I love, that I grew up in, and decided after many years in New York City to return to because at heart, I’m a southern girl. . . . We need to start on GOTV work if we want to defeat a marriage amendment.

Whether or not Christians want to admit it, this foul piece of legislation in North Carolina is the work of those wrapping themselves in the flag of Christianity. Much of the effort was the result of the work of anti-gay hate groups, Christianist and religious leaders and their followers who inundated the legislature with anti-gay messages and who, if given a free rein, would abolish religious freedom for anyone not subscribing to their intolerant and hate based belief system. I'm sorry, but I cannot help but ask "where were the good Christians" in this fight? As Pam previously noted:

Equality North Carolina today released the names of 242 clergy and faith leaders from across North Carolina who have, in the past two weeks, signed on to a statement publicly denouncing a proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment and calling on state lawmakers to join them in opposing the legislation. The clergy join 526 additional people of faith every corner of the state who have also signed a public declaration against the amendment.

But where were the masses of supposedly "good Christians"? Did they write and contact their legislators in droves as the Christianists and Bible beaters did? By Pam's numbers, seven hundred and sixty-eight Christians and religious leaders went on record in their opposition to the legislation. But how many others did so? Sadly, I suspect very few. It's yet another example of the Christian equivalent of the "good German" phenomenon where people sit by silently and allow evil things to happen. Some will say that I am too strong in my calling out of the "good Christians" for their weakness and tacit hand in allowing evil. If anything, I am probably to easy on them. It makes me sick and it makes me wonder when these people will wake up? When their own freedom of religion is lost?

Another North Carolina blogger who I consider a "straight ally" whether he considers himself as such or not summed up the situation in North Carolina well. Here's highlights from Civil Commotion:

The North Carolina Senate voted 30-16 Tuesday to place on the May ballot a constitutional amendment which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. If enacted, the amendment will proscribe same sex marriage, same sex civil unions, and may be construed to proscribe the same sex partner benefits increasingly common amongst Fortune 500 companies.

The backers of this amendment have struggled for years to get it on the ballot, and poll after poll has shown that, though most Tarheels are opposed to same sex marriage, there is little support for actually amending the constitution. For several good reasons, which deserve to prevail, the amendment ought to be defeated.

First, it is morally objectionable. Absent a showing of harm to anybody, neither I, nor you, nor anybody else, has a right to put his hands on his neighbor’s Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.

Second, the amendment is being advanced in a fundamentally dishonest way. . . . If the legislature really wanted the let the people “make that decision,” (and remember, polls have repeatedly shown that few of us are interested in such an amendment) they would have put it on the November, or general election, ballot. In the event, they’ve put it on the May, or primary, ballot. Obama is not expected to face a primary challenger, and so few Democrats will have much of an incentive to go to the polls. Which loony should carry the Republican banner is undecided, though, so there will be a lot more Republicans at the polls on primary day. In short, they’ve stacked the deck to enable a minority of activists to amend the constitution — in the name of letting the people “make that decision.”

The overt malice of the amendment, and the dishonesty and effrontery of its champions, is downright staggering — and deserve to be decisively smacked down.

One can only hope that the measure is either defeated or that the federal courts will strike down such bans on civil marriage as unconstitutional.