Trial attorney Ted Olson will attend a
rally against passage of a proposed constitutional amendment which
would define marriage as a heterosexual union in North Carolina.
Voters will decide on the measure
during the state's May 8 presidential primary.
If approved, the amendment would bar
North Carolina from recognizing the relationships of gay and lesbian
couples with marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic
partnerships.
The 71-year-old Olson, a prominent
Republican, shocked conservatives in 2009 when he joined the legal
team challenging the constitutionality of California's gay marriage
ban, Proposition 8.
“I'm going to go down to North
Carolina in April,” Olson told LGBT
| POV, a blog hosted by Frontiers in LA. “There's a big
rally down there. I'm going to go down and do my bit.”
Referring to testimony heard during the
2010 trial, Olson said he was looking forward to the first defeat of
such an amendment.
“We want to win one. You heard the
witness talk about how the outcome [of anti-gay ballot measures] is
always against gay and lesbian people. It would be really great if
we started changing that. And maybe North Carolina is a chance.”
The April 1 rally will be held in
Greensboro and is being organized by the group Faith
Against Amendment One, a coalition member of Protect
All North Carolina Families.
(Related: Majority
oppose North Carolina gay marriage ban.)