William Barber, the president of the
North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), has reiterated his group's
opposition to a proposed gay marriage ban in the state.
Voters in North Carolina will decide
next May on whether to amend the state constitution to define
marriage as a heterosexual union. The amendment would also bar the
state from recognizing gay and lesbian couples with civil unions and
possibly domestic partnerships.
During a panel Saturday at the 2011
Equality North Carolina Foundation Conference, Barber
told attendees that the NAACP was fighting for civil rights.
In an open letter to North Carolinians,
Barber wrote that his group has not taken a position on gay marriage,
but added that it opposes the amendment based on its discriminatory
nature.
“No matter our color. No matter our
faith tradition. Those who stand for love and justice are not about
to fall for their trick. No matter how you feel personally about
same-sex marriage, no one, especially those of use whose forebearers
were denied constitutional protections and counted as 3/5ths of a
vote for their slave-masters and mere chattel property for other
purposes in the old Constitutions – none of us should ever want to
deny any other person constitutional protections.”
“A vote on the same sex marriage
amendment has nothing to do with your personal opinion on same sex
marriage but everything to do with whether or not you believe
discrimination should be codified and legalized constitutionally,”
Barber wrote.