By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
April 10, 2014
Just two years after a majority of North Carolina voters affirmed their belief in traditional marriage, a federal appeals court may nullify the Marriage Protection Amendment and force same-sex unions on the Tar Heel state despite its statutory and constitutional laws.
“If this happens, then it will be just one more demonstration that we are no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of the courts,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “We are no longer a country of the the people, by the people, and for the people. We are a country of the courts, by the courts, and for whatever purposes the courts say.”
A federal judge in Virginia ruled against that state’s marriage amendment, which had been approved by 57 percent of the voters in 2006. in February. The case has been appealed and is set to come before a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals May 13. That court’s jurisdiction covers not only Virginia and Maryland, where same-sex marriage is legal, but also West Virginia and the Carolinas. Legal experts say that if Virginia’s ruling stands, all three states can expect to have their amendments fall by late summer.
Already North Carolina’s amendment, which simply affirms what is already in state statutes — that marriage is between one man and one woman — is under attack from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several homosexual couples. That case, filed as a challenge to state law which prohibits adoption by unmarried couples, was broadened to include the Marriage Protection (MPA) Amendment after North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a supporter of same-sex marriage, announced he had no objection to the expansion of the case. Since then, he has insisted that his office will fully defend the MPA despite his personal opinion on the matter, though few conservatives find comfort in his assertions.
The Attorney General’s efforts may become a moot point as U.S. District Judge William Osteen appears to be waiting to see what the Fourth Circuit does before forging ahead on North Carolina’s case.
Still, there is cause for hope, especially if judges consider the U.S. Supreme Court’s entire Windsor case ruling last June. While the case struck down a portion of the national Defense of Marriage Act, it also affirmed that marriage is a matter for each state to decide.
“We’ve established state law. If they follow the Supreme Court precedent, our law will be upheld,” Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) told the media.
That is also the hope of at least three of the leading conservatives in the race against U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC). Greg Brannon, Mark Harris and Thom Tillis are each staunch supporters of the state’s MPA.
“If elected to the U.S. Senate, I pledge to do everything I can to stop bureaucrats and unelected judges from imposing their definition of marriage on the people of North Carolina,” Brannon said.
Harris, a founding member of “Vote for Marriage NC,” which led the fight to pass the MPA in 2012, said on the issues of life and marriage, “I make no compromises.”
Tillis, Speaker of the House and part of the Republican majority that brought the amendment to the voters, has said that he considers the traditional family “the bedrock of America’s culture.”
For more on these candidates’ views, see the following link.