Just Say No
For those of you wondering what a scathing editorial against Amendment One on the Sunday before the referendum might have looked like in the N&R, here’s the N&O‘s version:
Constitutional amendments should be about law, not about religion, and not about the social agendas of conservative or liberal politicians. They should be solidly constructed to protect rights and weather the test of time, like cornerstones. They should stand for all the people. This one, instead, is bitterly divisive. Even one of its prominent backers, the speaker of the state House, has said he doubts that, if passed, it will stand beyond another generation.
Amendment One meets none of the criteria by which a constitution can properly be modified. It is motivated by politics, driven in some cases by a vindictive attitude toward groups of people not approved of by those who believe themselves to be in the “mainstream.”
Marriage is far too strong an institution to have phony “protections” like this one. And the final and sad irony is that this amendment is being pushed by the very people who fancy themselves enemies of what they call “big government,” yet in this case, they’re fine with government intruding in people’s personal lives.
But the people have the final say, and they can say no.
Sadly, the progressive citizens of Greensboro, who fought so valiantly against this miscarriage of justice, are not represented among the pantheon of our state’s other progressive newspapers as they courageously stand with their readers.
This is a black day for Greensboro. The News & Record should be ashamed.
