NC close to vote on gay marriage ban in constitution

North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast without a gay marriage ban in its constitution. The idea has gone nowhere in the last decade because Democratic leaders quashed Republican efforts to debate amendment referenda.

Now with Republicans in charge of the Legislature for the first time in 140 years, conservatives are making their move. Lawmakers return Monday to Raleigh to debate proposed amendments, including one to let voters next year decide if a state law already on the books defining marriage as between one man and one woman should be imprinted into the state constitution as well.

“It’s time that we settled this issue,” said GOP state Rep. Dale Folwell of Winston-Salem, the No. 2 leader in the House and a key amendment proponent.

Gay rights supporters and gay-friendly companies in the state have been attacking the proposal, saying a 2012 statewide ballot is unnecessary and would humiliate the state in a nation that’s become more accepting of same-sex relationships. They say it would discourage business from coming to North Carolina, where unemployment has crept back above 10 percent.

“It makes no sense that North Carolina in a dark economic hour, should signal out a minority of its population for public judgment,” said Andrew Spainhour, general counsel of Greensboro-based tableware seller Replacements Ltd., where as many as 100 of the 450 employees are gay, including the company founder.

The marriage debate rises against a backdrop of looming, critical elections. A divisive ballot measure in November 2012 could help bring conservatives to the polls in a state where Barack Obama won in 2008 by only 13,000 votes and which is hosting the Democratic National Convention. Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue also faces a tough re-election fight next year.

“There’s no doubt that there would be some advantage in motivating voters for Republican candidates,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On the gay marriage issue itself, he added: “We are polarized on this.”