Facts Are Your Friend

For my North Carolina readers, a gentle reminder that the Amendment One vote is happening on May 8th, a harmful political move that would hurt children and families across the state. The above video states some of the following facts:

Amendment One will harm children:
- A child of an unmarried parent could lose their health care and prescription drug coverage, putting the child’s health at risk. 

- A child could be taken away from a committed parent who has loved them their entire life if something happens to the other parent.

- It threatens existing child custody and visitation rights that are designed to protect the best interests of a child.

Amendment One will harm families:

- Marriage for gay and lesbian couples is (sadly) already banned in our state. But the impact of the amendment is so broad that it snares not only gay and lesbian couples and their children in its legal net, but also any unmarried couple and their children.

- Amendment One bans all other legal relationship recognitions—prohibiting North Carolina from ever recognizing civil unions and domestic partnerships. Thousands of North Carolinians rely on these legal protections. Removing these rights creates far-reaching and long-lasting harms for families from all walks of life.

- Amendment One would interfere with protections for unmarried couples to visit one another in the hospital and to make emergency medical and financial decisions if one partner is incapacitated.

Amendment One will harm unmarried women:
- The amendment is a dangerous step backward for domestic violence and stalking protection.
Domestic violence protections could only apply to married couples.
- In Ohio, where a similar amendment passed, this loophole has allowed convictions to be overturned.
- This amendment has the power to leave open for question how North Carolina’s domestic violence laws are applied—threatening our state’s victims of domestic violence.

Additional facts can be found at Protect All NC Families.

Early voting has already begun. For those outside the state who wish to help, visit ProtectNCFamilies.org. Vote AGAINST Amendment One on May 8th.