North Carolina anti-gay amendment may defund domestic violence programs

Donate to help defeat Amendment One.  Join today's Money-Bomb to fight the anti-gay amendment in North Carolina being voted on in just six weeks.

The religious right is trying to pass a state constitutional amendment in North Carolina on May 8th that would not just ban marriage equality for gay couples, it would also ban civil unions and domestic partnerships for all couples, gay and straight, and would even make it more difficult, if not impossible, for the state to help unmarried women who are victims of domestic violence.

Rather than simply banning "gay marriage," the amendment seems to ban any legal recognition of any domestic legal union other than a married one.  That means that domestic violence won't exist unless the couple is married, otherwise it's not "domestic" if the law simply considers them as "shacking up."  And that means state programs that help victims of domestic violence might be required to turn away unmarried women, and that courts may not be able to help those single women either.  Nor the police.

But the amendment goes further than that.  How do you litigate partner survivorship rights, hospital visitation, and adoption if the courts are forced by the state constitution to ignore any relationship that isn't marriage?

And don't think for a minute that this is hypothetical.  Ohio and Virginia both had problems with domestic violence programs following the passage of similar amendments in those states.

For those reasons, and more, AMERICAblog has joined today's Money-Bomb to raise money for the campaign to defeat anti-gay Amendment One in North Carolina.  The gay blogs have already raised over $12,000.  Please click the image above, or here, and give to the campaign.  Thanks.

PS from Joe: We're doing a live chat with the NC campaign manager, Jeremy Kennedy, right now at AMERICAblog Gay. Come over and join in -- after you donate.