Moore County's Board of Commissioners have unanimously approved a resolution encouraging citizens "to voice their opinion by exercising their right to vote" on Amendment One, commonly known as "The Marriage Amendment" in the Tuesday, May 8 primary election.
The action was taken during the Board's regular Tuesday, April 3 meeting, after the Commissioners heard nearly thirty minutes of public comment from supporters and opponents of the proposed amendment to the NC Constitution. Amendment One states in part that "Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."
The NC General Statutes already ban the recognition of same-sex marriages, no matter where they are performed. The controversial amendment writes that ban into the NC Constitution, in order to make it more difficult for a court to overturn the statute.
The language of Amendment One is broader than that of the existing statute; opponents have argued that it will also cause problems for mixed-gender domestic partnerships — for example, unmarried widows and widowers living together, or younger couples who share a household and children but are unmarried. Proponents argue that the language of the Amendment covers these living variations by explicitly allowing contracts among private parties.
Education, not advocacy?
Both Commissioner Nick Picerno, who brought the resolution before the Board, and County Attorney Misty Leland asserted that it merely encouraged citizens to vote on Amendment One rather than taking a position for or against the Amendment. [Download a copy of the resolution here.]
"The action before the Board is not to advocate for or against Amendment One," Leland said. "It is only to encourage people to exercise their right to vote."
Noting that gay marriage is already banned by state statutes, Picerno said, "I'm not worried about gay marriage." His concern, instead, was the seriousness of any change to the State Constitution, which "should be taken seriously by all people. It deserves the time to be explained, so that our citizens can know what they are voting about."
Picerno said the objective of the resolution was to "lead and inform the voter, not to tell them how to vote."
Picerno also mentioned that "all too often we are experiencing in our country where a judge or a small panel of judges are inflicting their will over the will of the people" and said the purpose of Amendment One is "to protect the will of the very people the Constitution is written for."
Of the 385 words in the text of the resolution approved by the Commissioners, 329 words recount legislative actions and referenda against gay marriage, while mentioning no legislative or judicial action in support of gay marriage.
The Public Weighs In
If the Commissioners and County Attorney intended the resolution as a policy-neutral call for voter participation, that intent was lost on the Moore County citizens who alternately praised the Board for their courage in supporting Amendment One, or pleaded with them to abandon the resolution.
Among the most eloquent supporters of the Amendment was Jennifer Boyer of Aberdeen, who said elected officials should not "take off their faith off at the door and leave it there like a jacket." "I am glad we that have men of faith at this table who are going to bring their courage," she added.
Boyer was joined in her opposition to Amendment One and support for the county's resolution by Dr. Robert Deucher, who said he was the Moore County Coordinator for Vote for Marriage NC, a group supporting Amendment One. He called marriage between members of the opposite sex is a "fundamental building block of all civilization . . . Life comes from the union of one man and one woman." "Children do best when raised by a loving mother and a loving father," Deucher said. He warned that courts might overturn the existing statute against gay marriage -- hence the need for a Constitutional Amendment.
Robert Levy, who chairs the More County Republican Party, but said he spoke as a private citizen, told the Board that "it is important that the state not recognize relationships which many of our citizens -- and perhaps a majority -- believe to be immoral. . . .It does not dishonor anyone to recognize the definition of centuries of morality."
Ellen Marcus of Aberdeen, who has filed to run for Picerno's seat on the Board in the November General Election, told the Commissioners that "some things are between a man and their God and what they believe." She urged the Board not to "tie up Moore County citizens' time and money to vote on this. . . Amendments should never take away rights; they should give rights."
Brent Bissete, pastor of the Congregational Church of Pinehurst noted that "Jesus is found to be constantly breaking bread with those persons that others have pushed to the margins of society. . . . much to the chagrin of the political and religious authorities of his day." Noting that his own congregation welcomed both straight and gay individuals, couples, and families, he said that gave him "hope for our world that we may eventually recognize the Kingdom of God together."
Kevin Smith, a member of Bissette's church, recounted the joy that the congreation shared when a lesbian couple, who had tried for years to have a child, brought their baby to be baptized. "These are all your constituents, and they all deserve your consideration. They all deserve your protection," he told the Commissioners. "They deserve equal treatment and equal protection under the law . . . . We have done enough to embarrass the next generation . . . . Let's not do this. This is not something that you need to do. This is not something that we should be doing."
Don Welch, minister at Seven Lakes Chapel in the Pines, speaking as a private citizen, told the Board that, "Not long ago there were laws that disallowed marriage between two persons of different races in this state . . . . These laws were often supported -- even championed -- by Christians who somehow found support for injustice and inequality in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. History has proven them wrong. Since the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, God has been on the side of justice and equality for all God's children . . . . If our state adopts this Amendment, and you as County Commissioners support it, we will once again be on the wrong side of history, and, I think, on the wrong side of the loving God that was revealed in Jesus of Nazareth."
"I ask this question," Welch continued. "Is this why we elected you to be County Commissioners? Did we ask you to seek to enforce your concept of morality on all of us? What does this Amendment have to do with the future welfare and prosperity of Moore County? . . . . Are you here to divide us and create obstacles to our economic growth and prosperity?"
After assertions by both Leland and Picerno that the resolution was neither for nor against Amendment One, Picerno read the text, and each of the five Commissioners voted in favor of it, without discussion or debate.
