Sex | NC Lawmakers Stake Positions On Same-sex Marriage

This is not the first time lawmakers have tried to write into the state constitution the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. But those bills never made it to a full vote under Democratic leadership. Now with Republicans controlling the agenda, supporters see this year as the best opportunity to push the issue.

North Carolina is the only state in the South without a constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage. To make it a part of the constitution would require three-fifths majorities in the House and Senate to get it on the ballot and then approval from more than half of voters.

The issue is particularly complex for Democratic lawmakers, including a handful who have co-sponsored the legislation.

House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney, who led the opposition at the event Tuesday, supported the 1996 law making same-sex marriage illegal, as did vast majorities of the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate at the time.

In his remarks against the amendment, Hackney backpedaled on his previous position, adding that he "would not cast the same vote today."

"I think people change, cultures change," he said. "Our predecessors 50 years ago, 100 years ago, were perfectly content with Jim Crow laws they enacted."

A money issue?

Hackney asserted there is "a difference in putting something in law and putting a discriminatory message in the constitution."

Standing with two business leaders and a cadre of Triangle Democrats, Hackney sought to cast the debate in economic terms, suggesting it would hurt the recruitment of creative professionals who drive the local economy and could nullify benefits private companies offer to domestic partners.

Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, also pointed to Ohio where a similar same-sex marriage prohibition hurt domestic violence protections because it didn't cover unmarried couples living together.

Republican Dale Folwell, the No. 2 lawmaker in the House, rejected Democrats' claims that the ban would hurt business recruitment.

"If any business is making a decision about whether to come or leave North Carolina on this issue ... I think that's an incorrect way to be making business decisions," he said.

Three pastors who appeared with Folwell put it in more direct terms, blasting judges in other states who overturned laws against same-sex marriage and saying homosexual marriage is not legitimate because it cannot be consummated.

"Every empire that went down was because they pushed immorality," said Donald Fozard, a pastor at Mount Zion Christian Church in Durham. "This fight is for real."

Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church in Fayetteville also disavowed any comparison to the civil rights movement and black suffrage.

"It's offensive to equate an obsession with immoral, unnatural sexual behaviors with being black," he said.