Anti-gay marriage rally draws 1,000

An anti-gay marriage rally drew more than 1,000 people.

The attendees, most of them from Baptist churches across the state, stood on the ice-covered lawn outside the legislative building in Raleigh to demand that state legislators give them a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, Yonat Shimron reports.

The rally, sponsored by a Winston-Salem group called Return America, featured two nationally acclaimed conservative Christian pundits who described a breakdown of society should gay couples be allowed to marry. They then urged those attending to knock on their legislator's doors and demand action.

"Let them feel the heat until they see the light," said David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, a ministry devoted to educating Americans about the country's moral and religious foundation.

The rally was a follow-up to a press conference last week in which Republican legislators re-introduced a bill that would allow North Carolina to hold a referendum on marriage. The bill has been sidetracked to a committee.

North Carolina does not allow same-sex marriage but advocates of a constitutional amendment say they want extra protections should a judge decide the current law is unconstitutional.

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Re: Anti-gay marriage rally draws 1,000

Submitted by alexmiller510 on March 4, 2009 - 7:06am.

The rally was an anti-gay marriage event, as its featured speakers repeatedly made clear. It had nothing to do with protecting heterosexual marriage, which as an institution may be in need of protection, but only from those who enter into it without true commitment: 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce. These statistics are what threaten to demean the societal value of my marriage; another loving, committed couple living in partnership most certainly does not.

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Re: Anti-gay marriage rally draws 1,000

Submitted by CarolinaDad on March 4, 2009 - 6:56am.

The rights of a minority group should never be put to a vote. This bill has nothing to do with protecting marriage and everything to do with codifying bigotry towards our LGBT citizens into law. Yes, the amendment would likely be passed if put to a popular vote, just as continued slavery, segregation, disenfranchisement of women and the internment of Japanese Americans would have passed if put to a vote in the year those practices came to an end. What ended those practices, and began the still-incomplete process of healing the wounds they created, was the moral leadership and political will of a courageous few, who recognized that the minorities of this country are as deserving as any of those of us in the majority to full and equal protection and rights under the law. I applaud the legislative leaders who have ensured the efforts of those who massed in Raleigh in a sad and misguided display of celebratory hatred will continue to have little chance of success in our state.

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Re: That would be a lie

Submitted by tangoz on March 3, 2009 - 8:40pm.

RTB, you betray your bias based on how you titled this article.

James, the law is already in place. This would give the people of NC a chance to vote on a state constitutional amendment. If the amendment fails then you would have grounds to ask the legislature to reverse the current law. So what are you afraid of? That you might lose?

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That would be a lie

Submitted by James_Protzman on March 3, 2009 - 3:46pm.

You'd have to say "Pro-Heterosexual-Marriage Rally" to have any chance of integrity with that direction.

Besides, having listened to the major speeches, it's pretty clear that the current headline accurately reflects the agenda. I didn't hear a single person offer a meaningful explanation as to how this amendment would do anything whatsoever to "defend marriage."

No amount of lipstick will dress up the DOMA pig.

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