Members of the Vote For Marriage N.C. coalition cut into a wedding cake Tuesday night celebrating the passage of Amendment One — a constitutional amendment establishing marriage between a man and a woman as the only union recognized by the state.
Tami Fitzgerald, chair for the coalition, spoke at its viewing party in Raleigh after the amendment passed by a nearly 60-40 margin.
“We are not anti gay, we are pro marriage,” Fitzgerald said. She said the goal of the amendment is to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
“It [marriage] has merely been recognized by government as the key to a strong and flourishing society,” Fitzgerald said.
But response to the vote was different from members of the Orange County Democratic Party who met in Hillsborough to watch the election results.
“The voters will be on the wrong side at the end of the day,” said Matt Hughes, chair for the county’s Democratic Party. “This will be repealed one way or another.”
“The legislature was wrong to put a divisive social issue on the ballot and was wrong to waste taxpayer dollars,” Hughes said. He said the decision will most likely be battled in the court system.
Matthew Cox and Chessa DeCain contributed reporting for this story.
