Tag Archives: North Carolina

Via the Asheville Citizen-Times: The chief administrator of North Carolina’s courts says Republican party leaders may have misled magistrates on whether they could refrain from performing same-sex marriages. John Smith, director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, detailed his concerns in a three-page letter to Senate leader Phil Berger, who along with more than two dozen Senate Republicans …

Via Raleigh’s News & Observer: Within hours of a split ruling by a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upholding gay marriage bans in four states, attorneys for North Carolina legislative leaders filed notice in the federal courts of their plans to appeal rulings in North Carolina that struck down a gay marriage ban. The court document, filed by …

Incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers first won election in the Tea Party wave of 2010 with an endorsement from Sarah Palin. Ellmers voted to fund the GOP effort to defend DOMA.

The Liberty Counsel yesterday advised state officials not to resign over same-sex marriage because no lawsuit can then be brought on their behalf. Via press release: “Stand your ground. Do not voluntarily resign your post when confronted with this intolerant agenda.” Staver made these comments after several magistrates in North Carolina resigned because they refused to preside over a same-sex …

Hate group leader Janet Porter says that the six North Carolina magistrates who have resigned rather than fulfill their sworn duties have been “forced from office.”

“I prayed about it; I asked for wisdom. I think our hearts have been led away by the cares of the world, our desires, and ultimately, our intense arrogance – our hubris – against the Lord. We’ve rejected the prime authority of the scriptures, something our Nation’s Founding Fathers, such as John Adams, knew better than to do. In both …

Matt Comer writes at Q Notes: The North Carolina Republican Party has put their official stamp of approval on an anti-LGBT mailer sent to voters in and around Fayetteville, N.C., just days before the general election. The mailers decry the “Homosexual Agenda” and accuse LGBT groups of seeking “special rights for homosexuals.” The GOP’s mailer target Democratic state Senate candidate …

This is really happening.

NOM has launched an attack ad campaign against US Sen. Kay Hagan, who is battling anti-gay state Rep. Thom Tillis, the leader of his state’s bid to overturn same-sex marriage. NOM accuses Hagan of having “hand-picked” the judge that overturned Amendment One, but Jeremy Hooper points out that the judge was unanimously approved by the Senate. “Unanimous” includes North Carolina’s …

Via the News & Observer: Senate leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that he would introduce a bill that would protect the jobs of magistrates, registrars of deeds and their employees who refuse to officiate at weddings for members of the same-sex if their refusal is based on religious beliefs. A magistrate in Berger’s home county of Rockingham quit because he …

Via Equality North Carolina: Raleigh City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday afternoon to include protections for transgender city employees in revised policy language recommended by the City’s Human Relations Commission. With the vote, the state’s capital city became the sixth city in North Carolina to protect all city employees in the LGBT community and the 10th state municipality to offer …

Via the Charlotte Observer: A group that backed a North Carolina constitutional amendment on gay marriage is telling public officials that they can refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses in their counties. The North Carolina Values Coalition sent an email Saturday to the state’s registers of deeds saying that their religious and moral beliefs are protected by federal and state …

Last Monday, crackpot anti-gay activist Pastor Flip Benham, father of the would-be HGTV twins, joined two other Christian protesters to scream insults at happy strangers marrying outside a North Carolina courthouse. Via Matt Comer at Q Notes: Three anti-LGBT protesters were present outside the register’s office, including well-known street preacher and convicted stalker Flip Benham. He interrupted several couples’ weddings …

Clip recap: “We just picked up more states with the freedom to marry, and the number could continue increasing over the course of this week. But in several states, officials are blocking the start of marriage despite courts ruling against their bans. We’ll have the details on how couples are fighting back. Plus, more bad news for the National Organization …

Via the Winston-Salem Journal: A Rockingham County magistrate submitted his resignation Thursday, saying he couldn’t marry same-sex couples because it violates his religious beliefs. Magistrate John Kallam Jr. sent a letter to Chief District Court Judge Fred Wilkins and said he couldn’t fulfill his oath of office after same-sex marriage became legal in North Carolina. His resignation is effective Oct. …

“Pasquotank County is hard to pronounce — but it’s not nearly as difficult as pronouncing two women ‘wife and wife.’ That’s how North Carolina Magistrate Gary Littleton felt when a same-sex couple asked him to ‘marry’ them at a courthouse this week. Unfortunately for Littleton, his constitutional rights are of no concern to local liberals, who insist that the judge …

Via the Associated Press: North Carolina magistrates have been directed to perform civil marriages for same-sex couples or face suspension or dismissal from their state jobs. A memo to state magistrates Wednesday said they would be violating their oaths of office if they refuse to marry gay or lesbian couples. The directive came after a magistrate in Pasquotank County on …

United States District Court Judge William Osteen today ruled that the GOP/NOM legal team has the standing to appeal North Carolina’s marriage equality case. Osteen issued an order granting requests by House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger seeking to intervene in the cases. Osteen’s order follows a separate ruling Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Max O. …

Via the Virginian-Pilot: William Locklear and his partner showed up at the county courthouse Monday expecting to get married after 31 years together. The couple didn’t get the chance. A magistrate turned them away. “He said, ‘I won’t be performing your marriage because of my religious beliefs,’ ” Locklear said. A federal judge struck down the state’s gay marriage ban …