Campaign Update

-February 26, 2009- On Tuesday, February 24, NC4Marriage held a Press Conference to announce the introduction of the Defense of Marriage Act in the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives and the formation of the broad, bi-partisan, statewide coalition—NC4Marriage. Over 200 people and 40 pastors packed the atrium and Press Room of the Legislative Building to show their support for protecting marriage. Members of the press seemed a bit overwhelmed, and their coverage of what happened has been interesting. Some media outlets, like the Asheville-Citizen Times chose not to even report on the formation of this vast Coalition of voters, ministry and denominational leaders, churches, public policy groups, and political leaders from both parties. Instead, they reported on the minority of groups on the other side of this issue—those that support same-sex marriage. The best and most accurate coverage came from WRAL TV, who posted on its website two videos of the complete Press Conference and a poll of whether voters support the Amendment. Also on the 24th of February, NC4Marriage held a Legislative Forum in the Auditorium of the Legislative Building to help answer questions that legislators might have about the necessity of a Marriage Amendment, its impact, and the threat to marriage as exemplified by other states. Senior Litigation Attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, Jordan Lorence was the featured speaker. Legislators who attended seemed to appreciate the opportunity to hear from one of the leading authorities in the country on state Marriage Amendments. On Wednesday, February 25th, the North Carolina Bar Association held a Continuing Legal Education seminar for practicing attorneys in North Carolina that discussed "same sex marriage issues" (even though same-sex marriage is not legal in North Carolina). Panel members included Christine Sun of the ACLU's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project in Nashville, former Dean of the UNC-CH Law School Gene Nichol, and ADF Sr. Litigation Attorney Jordan Lorence. Mr. Lorence was the only one of the three speakers who supported the current North Carolina law that disallows marriages between persons of the same gender. He made the case for why current North Carolina law should be enshrined in the Constitution to maximize the protection for traditional marriage. Dean Nichol and Ms. Sun used the "education" seminar as an opportunity to push for legalization of same-sex unions.