Jim Forrester

(UPDATE: As California celebrates its marriage equality victory, freeper and fundie heads are exploding. If only Tar Heels could celebrate equality here. Makes me think about packing my bags sometimes.)

Here we go again.

Will gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue weigh in on Sen. Jim Forrester's (R) latest attempt to enshrine discrimination into my state's constitution? Senate Bill 1608 was introduced by the Gaston lawmaker one day into the legislative session. Clearly he has different priorities than most of NC's residents. Equality NC:

Just one day into the 2008 legislative session, Sen. Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) once again filed an anti-LGBT, anti-marriage state constitutional amendment. A similar bill is expected in the state House. Equality North Carolina is working to defeat these attempts to write discrimination into our state constitution.

The proposed bill mirrors those introduced in the last four sessions, which Equality North Carolina and our allies have successfully blocked.

"We can't let our guard down this year," said Ian Palmquist, Executive Director. "The far right would like nothing better than to put this amendment on the ballot and turn out radical conservative voters for the 2008 elections. We can't let Sen. Forrester and his cronies play politics with our lives, our rights, and our families."

The amendment would not only prohibit same-sex marriage-which is already not recognized in the state under current law-but would also ban any other form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples. In fact, the language is so broad it could prevent private companies from offering partner health benefits.

Equality North Carolina is actively lobbying against the amendment and is calling on supporters to contact their legislators.

You can send a message to legislators through Equality North Carolina's web site:
http://eqfed.org/campaign/amendment08

The sponsors of Senate Bill 1608 are below the fold.

CHARLOTTE, N.C./InterstateQ.com -- The wife of a conservative North Carolina state senator sponsoring an anti-gay, anti-family marriage amendment has penned a hate-filled, factually inaccurate opinion piece for the radical Right-wing Christian Action League website.

The piece, written by Mary Frances Forrester, the wife of Sen. James Forrester (R-Gaston County), was published Feb. 29, but it took me quite a bit of time to sift through information on some of the topics she addressed. I was going to make a rebuttal to Mrs. Forrester's op-ed the focus of my next Q-Notes editorial, but repeated attempts to contact Mrs. Forrester failed. Because I could never get in touch with her to get a list of sources she used in constructing her op-ed, I didn't feel comfortable writing on it for the paper.