At its meeting last week, the North Carolina State Board of Education took the highly unusual step of passing a resolution opposing the marriage amendment.
For a lot of good an obvious reasons which we wouldn’t go into here, the board rarely weighs in on issues like the amendment.
Board member John Tate of Charlotte thought otherwise. Tate believes the amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, will cause some people to lose health insurance, will weaken domestic violence protections for unmarried couples, and may hinder business recruitment. Tate proposed a resolution because he said, “passing it [the amendment] will cause disruption in families that will hurt children’s classroom performance.”
What evidence does Tate provide? None. Marriage amendment supporters strongly disagree with the claims that the amendment will cause some people to lose health insurance and may hinder business recruitment.
If Tate is so concerned with policies that will cause disruption in families and will hurt classroom performance, why hasn’t he advocated for resolutions opposing President Obama’s economic policies which have contributed to high levels of unemployment in North Carolina and generated lots of stress in the family – and likewise – in the classroom.
Interestingly, the board refused to pass Tate’s original 4 ½ page resolution (Yes, it was that long.) Instead, it adopted on a 5 to 4 vote with several members abstaining, a single paragraph opposing adoption of the amendment.
Next time you hear someone talking about injecting politics into schools, you know where to begin the conversation.
This amendment will cost the taxpayers of NC a lot of money. Children formerly covered by their PARENTS insurance will now qualify for medicaid like all the religous fanatics who are already on medicaid because of their fragile economic status due to numerous divorces which are rampant in the evangelical churches of NC… nice job Republicans you are costing this voter way too much money and this will just be another burden NC will have to bear until we vote the bigots in Raleigh out in 2012!!!