North Carolina NAACP fights back against anti-gay/ anti-marriage

I wish I could cast a ballot today in the Tarheal state of North Carolina, against anti-gay discrimination in that state. But alas, being from Wisconsin, I can only hope it fails. Amendment 1 would ban same sex marriages in that state by changing that state's constitution. In fact, according to some, it might ban certain forms of non-gay partnerships.

The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP has spoken out against this Amendment. This goes to show that there are many African Americans who are against discriminating against gay Americans. The far right-wing would have you believe every African American, opposes gay rights. The state NAACP released a press release that states in these excerpts:

"The polls and the politicians are asking the wrong questions on this discriminatory amendment, hatched in the backrooms of the extremist, rightwing think-tanks," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP. "Our message is consistent: A vote on the same sex marriage amendment has nothing to do with your personal and religious opinion on same sex marriage but everything to do with whether or not you believe discrimination should be codified and legalized constitutionally. We should never seek to codify or vote discrimination into the very heart and framework of our Constitution."

"The NAACP's position on any constitutional amendment that limits rights has been consistent for over 20 years, when other campaigns of this kind were proposed. For 103 years the NAACP's mission has always been to 'ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons.' The NC NAACP has always opposed any custom, tradition, practice, law or constitutional amendment that denies any rights, privileges, or opportunities to any person which can legally be extended to others."

It should not be a shock of course that a community that was discriminated against half a century ago, should be opposed to discrimination against gays. Civil rights leaders such as John Lewis support marriage equality for gays. Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. King, strongly supported gay rights before she died. Her husband stated, "the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice." It does exactly that.