Opinion:   “The amendment does not take away rights. Gays and lesbians have a right to live as they choose; they don't have a right to redefine marriage for the rest of us.” 




Fact:  The broad implication here is that North Carolina is divided into "they" and "the rest of us" factions. There are no such factions in this issue, and opposition to the amendment crosses orientational, religious, and party-affiliation lines. Gays and lesbians are not exclusively discriminated against by this amendment. All non-marriage unions would be made unlawful, children would be affected, and other legal domestic protections would be put into question before the courts.

Further, it’s untrue that "they" don't have a right to appeal for equal recognition under the law. All citizens have that right, just as “the rest of us” had the right, through elected representatives, to enact laws in 1996 against same-sex marriage in our state.

The fact that marriage has been 'redefined' many times throughout history notwithstanding, any future legalization of gay marriage would not be an effort to redefine. It would be a recognition of a pre-existing right - just as the 13th amendment did not 'redefine' what it meant to be a free human being - it established that all citizens were free inherently, and that those freedoms could not be denied. But, to the extent that broadened rights of civil union would be a revision, yes, the citizenry does have that right, in the same sense that suffragists had the right to revise the word "voter".