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(Raleigh, North Carolina) North Carolina's
legislature ended its session on Friday allowing a proposed constitutional
amendment banning gay marriage to die without coming to a vote.
The proposed amendment would not only have
blocked same-sex marriage but would also have prevented the state and private
employers from offering domestic partner benefits.
It is the second year in a row that the
legislature has passed over the measure, making the state the only one in the
South where an anti-gay amendment was being considered to twice put off voting.
North Carolina already has a so-called Defense of
Marriage Act to prevent same-sex couples from marrying but supporters of the
amendment say the law could be overturned by a court. Only with a
constitutional amendment, they argue, could the courts be forced to maintain
marriage as an opposite sex union.
But, the state's largest LGBT civil rights
organization mounted an aggressive attack against the amendment.
Equality North Carolina had supporters at the
legislature daily to keep up the pressure on lawmakers.
"This is a huge victory for LGBT North Carolinians, but our work is far from over,"
said Equality North Carolina spokesperson Ian Palmquist.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Richard Morgan and Lt.
Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Senate's presiding officer, swung the gavels down on
their session about 10:15 a.m. Friday.
The next session will not begin until May.
As they left the chambers legislators who back
the proposed amendment said they would return in the spring to renew their
attempts to have the measure passed.
"In the coming year, we have to keep pushing
forward, strengthening public support for full equality and fighting bigotry that is cloaked in
religion, said Palmquist.
"We know that this amendment will be back again in the spring when the General Assembly returns to Raleigh on May 9. Equality NC will be
there, ready to fight for equal rights and justice."
©365Gay.com 2005
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