Amendment One is not a gay issue or a straight issue.  Amendment One is a family issue.  If passed, Amendment One has the potential to harm people just like you and me.

North Carolina already has a law on the books banning gay marriage.  This amendment will not change that.  Gay marriage will not be legal if this amendment is voted down.  The biggest problem with Amendment One is it’s broad language.  The Amendment reads: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”  But what is a “domestic legal union”?  This is the true issue.

If this Amendment is passed, North Carolina Courts will be forced to determine exactly what this means.  Let’s take for example that the Courts determine this word to mean “relationship.”  Now, let’s apply this to some of our already existing laws.

Currently, in North Carolina, domestic violence protective orders (50B orders) are available to a domestic violence victim who has been subject to abuse by someone that she is in a personal relationship with.  Now, if Amendment One is passed, and under our example, personal relationships will only be recognized if the relationship is a marriage between a man and a woman.”  This Amendment could potentially mean that only married couples would be offered protections against domestic violence.  There is precedent for this happening in other states with similar amendments.  Is that fair?  No.

Another example concerns unmarried couples making end of life decisions and hospital visitation. The amendment could interfere with the right of unmarried couples to visit one another in the hospital and to make emergency medical and financial decisions if one partner is incapacitated. It could also invalidate certain trusts, wills and end-of-life directives.

Yet another example concerns healthcare coverage.  Many state corporations and local and county governments in North Carolina offer health insurance benefits to unmarried partners of employees—straight and gay.  The amendment could strip health benefits from unmarried people who receive coverage through their partners, including people with severe pre-existing conditions.  This could also affect unmarried seniors who need to keep their coverage—It could essentially force them to marry.

But perhaps most of all, this Amendment could harm children.  Let’s take for example a child born to a mother, and abandoned by their father at a young age.  The mother meets another man who treats the child as his own and helps to raise the child, but never marries the mother, or officially adopts the child.  If Amendment One is passed, the father figure to this child may have no custody or visitation rights with this child.  And, if something happens to the biological parent, the child could be taken away from the parent who has taken care of them their entire life.  This Amendment could also take away legal protections for the children of unmarried people, including healthcare and prescription drug coverage provided though an unmarried parent.

Finally, North Carolina will face significant legal costs of this Amendment is passed.  Litigation will ensue to determine the meaning of the Amendment, and in the meantime, many protections afforded to unmarried couples, gay and straight, will be lost.  Educate yourself before you vote.  You can visit www.protectallncfamilies.org for more information.

I urge you to VOTE AGAINST.

Crystal Sumner