NORTH CAROLINA: Anti-Gay Pols Plan To Stop Gay Marriages From Happening

Via the News-Observer:

Phil Berger [photo], president pro tem of the N.C. Senate, and Thom Tillis, speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives, two of the Republican leaders who helped shepherd Amendment One to a statewide referendum, said late Monday they planned to take on the legal battle to defend the ban that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has said he no longer would fight to keep.

“The people of North Carolina have spoken, and while the Supreme Court has not issued a definitive ruling on the issue of traditional marriage, we are hopeful they will soon,” Tillis and Berger said in a joint statement. “Until then, we will vigorously defend the values of our state and the will of more than 60 percent of North Carolina voters who made it clear that marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Amendment One was approved 61-39 percent, yet only 21 percent of North Carolina’s registered voters cast ballots in favor of the change. Critics of the ban say advocates overstate the support by omitting turnout figures. They also question why and through what legal arguments Berger and Tillis plan to intervene. “Any action by Berger and Tillis at this late date would surely be a waste of taxpayer money,” said Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina.

Last night the federal judge presiding over North Carolina's marriage suit gave both sides ten days to file motions on how they want to proceed. North Carolina's marriage ban is the nation's most recent, having passed in 2012.