North Carolina voters to weigh in on same-sex marriage ban

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - North Carolina residents will vote next year upon a constitutional legislative addition to ban same-sex matrimony after a Senate upon Tuesday approved putting a issue upon a statewide ballot.The 30-16 vote was enough to reach a three-fifths starting point needed to place an legislative addition to a state constitution upon a ballot. The House approved a measure upon Monday helped by a votes of 10 Democrats.North Carolina currently has a statute defining matrimony as a union between a male and a woman, but Republican leaders have pushed for a constitutional legislative addition to protect that law from being overturned by a courts.North Carolina is a only Southern state that does not already have a ban upon same-sex matrimony enshrined in its constitution, while six states and a District of Columbia recognize gay marriage.Supporters of a bill had originally proposed putting it upon a general election ballot in November but agreed to switch a date to a May first ballot to draw a support of Democrats whose votes were needed in a House.Democrats had worried that carrying a same-sex matrimony legislative addition upon a general election ballot would skew turnout during next year's presidential contest in a Republicans' favor. North Carolina is expected to be a battleground state in 2012.State Senator Dan Soucek, a Republican and sponsor of a amendment, said it was necessary to protect matrimony between a male and a woman as a "time-tested building block of society."Senator Ellie Kinnaird, a Democrat, said a legislative addition was about a oppression of gay people."What we are doing here is making a situation that is difficult for many people much, much worse," she said.The action by lawmakers was both praised and panned. Several hundred gay rights advocates protested a legislative addition at a noon rally outside a Legislative Building in Raleigh.Rea Carey, executive director of a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, called for electorate to reject a amendment."This is dee! ply disa ppointing and hurtful to thousands of North Carolina same-sex couples who simply want to be able to care for each other and their families, as all families do," Carey said in a statement."We urge a fair-minded people of North Carolina to reject this painful attack upon their neighbors, co-workers, friends and family members."The president of Family Research Council Action, a national conservative group and a legislative advocacy arm of a Family Research Council, said lawmakers were investing in a state's future by paving a way for a adult vote.The group helped support a legislative addition effort, launching a radio ad campaign that targeted a dozen legislators in a state."The North Carolina legislature is investing in its future by allowing its citizens to vote upon protecting and defending marriage," said a group's president, Tony Perkins. "The well-being of children, parental rights and religious liberty are all at stake in this referendum."(Edited by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)