If North Carolina's constitution is ever amended to ban gay marriage, it'll probably be 2012 at the earliest. The state house has made it difficult, if not impossible, for such a monstrosity to even come up for a vote.
After the protesters numbering at least 3,000 by police estimate ended their rally in near-freezing temperatures, Democratic leaders in the House required that a marriage amendment bill co-sponsored by 66 of the chamber's 120 members go through four committees before floor debate can begin.
That is an unheard number of committees for any bill in the Legislature. And a similar Senate bill was sent last week to a committee that has not met in years.
A bill sponsored by a majority of the legislature being kept off the floor? Those evil, evil, evil libruls! But there's one problem--the state constitution requires that an amendment initiated in the General Assembly must get the support of three-fifths of both houses before getting on the ballot. And I seriously doubt there's anywhere near three-fifths support in either chamber.
Even if there was a hue and cry raised for a constitutional convention, that can only happen with the support of two-thirds of both houses.
What troubles me, though, is the state house and state senate leadership's response to this. They stress there's already a law on the books defining marriage as only being between a man and a woman. Why couldn't they say that there's more important stuff to work on--like the economic crisis? I know what the response will be--"There could be nothing more important than preserving one of the bedrocks of our society!" To that I'd respond, "The people of this state expect us to work on getting more jobs and fixing our roads." Such is life in a purple state trying to get the red out.
UPDATE Read the bill text here at the General Assembly Website. Sponsor list with links to contact info for the 66 state reps who sponsored this ridiculous bill here.