White Out (Of Your Mind)

There are some days where I'm just entirely ashamed of the state I grew up in, North Carolina, and this is one of those instances.

The wife of a sponsor of North Carolina’s Amendment One, a proposed change to the state’s constitution that would ensure legal recognition only for marriage between a man and a woman, reportedly offered an eyebrow-raising explanation for her husband’s support of the measure.

Jodie Brunstetter, the wife of state Sen. Peter Brunstetter (R), has found herself embroiled in controversy after suggesting that her husband’s role in writing the bill — which passed the Republican-controlled general assembly last fall — was racially motivated.

According to the alternative Yes! Weekly, which picked up the remarks from freelance journalist and activist Chad Nance, Jodie Brunstetter told a poll worker in Winston-Salem, N.C. Monday that the reason her husband “wrote Amendment 1 was because the Caucasian race is diminishing and we need to uh, reproduce.”

Nance had been volunteering for a group opposed to Amendment One while also serving as a campaign manager for Matt Newton, a U.S. House candidate in North Carolina’s 12th Congressional district. After a dispute with the candidate over his decision to make Jodie Brunstetter’s remarks public, Nance resigned from Newton’s campaign.

So yeah, Amendment 1 in North Carolina?  There's a reason it was written and worded so terribly vague and so awfully broad.   There's a reason that in a state where laws already exist to outlaw gay marriage that an amendment to the state constitution is apparently necessary.  And there's a reason why I think supporters of stupid, bigoted, divisive nonsense like this are stupid, divisive bigots.  Sick and tired of hearing this stuff would be happening with a white President and that Barack Obama's race has nothing to do with the Tea Party's complete hatestorm.  Not at this level.  Not with people openly admitting this garbage.

Anyhow, this is just asinine, ignorant, and silly.  If I wasn't vehemently opposed to Amendment 1 before, it has now become my duty to see this thing die screaming on Tuesday. Unfortunately the amendment has a double-digit lead.   The problem is the folks behind this measure have an impressive cash lead and voters continue to be largely misinformed about the fact that the amendment will outlaw domestic partnerships, civil unions, and even some insurance measures for children.  The hopeful part is that when voters are informed about this, the measure fails. by nearly 10 points:

The good news for the amendment’s opponents is that more voters are now aware of the amendment’s consequences, and if all voters were informed of those consequences, the amendment would fail by a 38-46 margin, the same as last week.  A 40% plurality now knows that the amendment would ban both same-sex marriage and civil unions, versus 36% in the previous survey.  Those who know what the amendment would do are against it by 22 points, but they are outweighed by the strong support from the uneducated.

As part of the overall 22-point shift, Democrats move 21 points, Republicans 24 points, and independents 16 points against the amendment when told it would ban both marriage and civil unions for gay couples.

The reason this message has an impact is that 55% of these primary voters want same-sex couples to at least have the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples, if not full marriage equality.  That includes 67% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and even 35% of Republicans.

“Voters who understand what the amendment does are opposed to it,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But there’s a lot of education left to be done in this final week of the campaign.”

So we'll see how things work out.  I'm hoping that my state will come through and break the gruesome trend of bigotry in this country.  That chain has to be smashed somewhere along the line.

I hope.