BoxTurtle, I had to join just so I could reply to your cynical outlook. As a NC citizen, I am aware things look grim; it is certainly possible that this amendment will pass. However, until the votes are cast, it is not a done deal. Your negative outlook does us no favors, either. Such fatalism can easily dissuade those who would vote against this amendment from taking time from their busy schedules to do so.

In fact, I think this state is ripe for voting down this atrocity. The language is some of the most extreme to ever be place on a ballot, yet the attitudes of the populace have shifted drastically. Unfortunately, many who would be OK with civil unions for same-sex couples, would vote for the amendment. They need help to understand that this amendment will deny even that compromise. But because this amendment goes so far as to strip any possibility for any legal recognition for same-sex couples, it ought to discourage even moderate minds from voting for it.

Further, the anti-equality forces have grown lazy on their own hubris. They are not focusing on NC, and they sincerely believe that they will never lose a popular vote. They phrase the claim to say that the people have always stood behind “traditional” marriage so they don’t have to admit that the people permitted civil unions in the state of Washington. In New York, they have the convenience of not seeing the vote put on a ballot, though I do not doubt that New York citizens would have done the same thing as their legislature. Popular vote is not an appropriate way to determine civil rights, but more and more the people are favoring equality. Hubris will be the downfall of those standing against this changing tide.

Finally, the personhood amendment put recently before the people of Mississippi was also supposed to pass, yet it failed by a significant margin. This has been a hopeful example to me of what can be accomplished when we work hard enough to share the truth of what this amendment means. So please, BT, instead of being cynical, try instead to help encourage people to get out and vote. Help them understand the harms that will be caused by this amendment. Then IF the amendment passes, instead of saying “I told you so,” you can proudly declare that “I did my best to fight it.”