Here’s the Lexington Dispatch article on the October 16th Thomasville City Council decision to approve an anti-gay marriage resolution:
Thomasville OKs marriage resolution
Eric Frazier, The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
October 17, 2006THOMASVILLE | Councilwoman Marie Culbreth opened her mouth to speak but held her thoughts before casting the lone vote Monday night against a resolution supporting a state marriage amendment for North Carolina.
Although the resolution’s text did not mention same-sex marriage, its supporters back a statewide referendum to define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman at one time” as the only marriage that would be recognized by the state. Bills that would do that have been tied up in House and Senate committees for three years.
In a 5-1 decision, with Joe Hedgpeth absent, the Thomasville City Council adopted the resolution without discussion in front of a smaller-than-anticipated crowd of fewer than 50 people. Conversely, five people used public forum time to oppose the resolution, and one spoke in favor of it.
After the meeting, Culbreth opened up.
“I couldn’t sign it,” she explained. “I have no business judging their lives.”
Culbreth noted that one opponent who spoke was a woman she knew well from working with her at the same law office.
“To me, it has no business in this chamber, none whatsoever,” she said of the resolution. “I don’t like being forced to vote on issues like that in this chamber.”
Councilmen Dwight Cornelison and Raleigh York Jr., who sponsored the resolution, were pleased by the outcome. For the most part, Cornelison characterized the comments made by opponents “a very civil discussion.”
Frequent local government critic Barney W. Hill called the resolution a “scheme to hijack the N.C. Constitution to make a political statement about sexual preferences.”
“I recommend for marriage what I recommend for any other useful institution: that it be divorced from government and taken out of politics,” Hill said. “The legal obligations traditionally associated with marriage are not a necessary part of the ethereal bond. If the secular were separated from the sacred, the demagogues would have to find a new hobbyhorse.”
Robbi Cohn asked the council not to adopt the resolution because it is contrary to the tradition of constitutional amendments broadening rather than narrowing citizens’ rights. She said marriage should be a social institution, not a civil matter, and called the amendment effort “a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.”
Matt Hill Comer, executive director of the North Carolina Advocacy Coalition, echoed Cohn’s remarks, citing state lobbying scandals, spiraling education costs, dropout rates and childhood poverty as more important issues deserving the limited time and resources of the Legislature.
The North Carolina Advocacy Coalition is a registered political action committee based in Winston-Salem. It describes its mission as “grassroots advocacy and activism on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.”
Chris Elkins, who described himself as a 62-year-old gay man in a committed relationship for 32 years, said the resolution would not protect marriage but would perpetuate prejudice against gay people.
“We’re not the monsters that the American Taliban would have you believe,” Elkins said. “Please stop playing politics with the lives of gay Americans. We deserve better.”
Samuel Johnson said his friends were horrified to learn that as an openly gay man he was moving back to North Carolina from Washington, D.C., and tried to discourage him.
“They believe that North Carolina is a state governed by people in white sheets,” he said. “They are mistaken. That is not the North Carolina that I love.”
He called the vote “purely symbolic” and said it was driven by people who want to “invite the people of North Carolina to engage in hate speech.”
But Dr. Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, countered that hate is not behind the effort.
“The Lord Jesus Christ defined marriage as between one man and one woman,” Baity said, referencing scripture from the Holy Bible.
Baity listed several social issues that he said have been settled by the courts rather than the people.
“We think that the judiciary has made too many of these decisions for too long,” he contended. ” … We believe it’s time for the Legislature of North Carolina to let the people decide what the definition of marriage is.”
Cornelison said he was sorry to hear allegations of hate speech. He showed copies of more explicit resolutions other local governments have passed and said he tried to make his “very, very nonjudgmental.”
He also said gay people would be welcome to come to his church but would not be eligible to serve in leadership or teaching roles, just as a man who has been married twice could not serve as a deacon.
Culbreth, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the resolution.
“The timing is seemingly right at our election,” she noted.
Cornelison and York said the timing was intended to draw attention to constitutional amendment votes coming up Nov. 7 in several other states, including South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
According to the North Carolina Family Policy Council, which advocates “preservation of the traditional family and family values,” in 19 states that have amended their constitutions, the measures have passed with average approval rates of 68 percent.
Eric Frazier can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 226, or eric.frazier@the-dispatch.com.
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