North Carolina is the only Southern state that does not constitutionally prohibit same-sex marriage, but two bills currently in the N.C. General Assembly (SB 106/HB 777) seek to define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
Although the editorial board recognizes that the issue of gay marriage is undoubtedly important to many North Carolinians, we wonder if introducing legislation surrounding a contentious social issue should be replaced by attempts to fix the ailing economy.
The bills have garnered heavy protest from gay rights groups, yet Republican representatives, led by Senators Harris Blake and Jim Forrester, push full steam ahead. A decisive issue for both sides of the aisle, the gay marriage debate rages in Raleigh.
Introduced on February 23 of this year, Senate Bill 106, also known as the Defense of Marriage Act, has spawned such outcry that groups like Equality North Carolina have embarked upon fundraising campaigns to stop its progress.
Add to this a recent Elon University poll that shows 57% of North Carolinians support “marriage, civil union, or partnerships for same-sex couples.”
Still, Republican senators truck along, hoping to prohibit same-sex relationship recognition.
Such heavy focus on the two bills is unjustifiable given the state of the economy. Time and money should be better spent.
As the debt ceiling rises and the unemployment rate in North Carolina climbs to 9.5%, the board believes that Senate Bill 106 and House Bill 777 must recede into the background — at least for the time being.
Forget about party lines, religion or sexual preference. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, conservative, liberal, religious or atheist. The two bills are detracting from more pressing economic issues. It’s common sense — fix the leakiest faucet first.
