President Barack Obama on Friday issued
a statement in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment
which would define marriage as a heterosexual union in North
Carolina.
The Obama campaign called the amendment
discriminatory in a statement, the News
& Observer reported.
“While the president does not weigh
in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear
that the president has long opposed divisive and discriminatory
efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples,” said
Cameron French, spokesman for the North Carolina campaign.
“That's what the North Carolina
ballot initiative would do – it would single out and discriminate
against committed gay and lesbian couples – and that's why the
president does not support it.”
Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry
applauded the president's comments.
“The White House's strong restatement
of President Obama's opposition to anti-gay measures such as the
proposed discriminatory constitutional amendment in North Carolina is
one more reason voters should reject such ugly attempts to divide
Americans and put obstacles in the path of people seeking to take
care of their loved ones in sickness and in health and in tough
economic times,” Wolfson said in a statement. “It is wrong to
deny loving and committed couples the freedom to marry, wrong to
smuggle in language that would bar not only marriage but all other
forms of recognition for families such as civil union or partnership,
and wrong to write discrimination into the constitution. Freedom to
Marry applauds the president and urges voters in North Carolina and
throughout the country to stay true to the Golden Rule of treating
others as we ourselves would want to be treated.”
If approved on May 8, the amendment
would bar North Carolina from recognizing the relationships of gay
and lesbian couples with marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic
partnerships.