Have something to say to North Carolina? Here's where you can do it:

[99Forever]

http://www.visitnc.com//contactus

Long and short of it, I wrote and told them that because of their discriminatory laws, we will no longer do any sort of business with anything connected with their state. Maybe they will care, maybe they won't, frankly it doesn't matter to me one bit.

[rurallib]

1. spent a lot of time there in my life.

and told them I won't be doing that anymore.

[KamaAina]

2. Indeed I do.

[font size=7]F U N C ![font size=1]

[democrat_patriot]

3. A lot of us live in NC

We voted against the amendment. We're progressives here in NC.

Thanks for lumping the whole state together, and hurting your fellow DUer's and Progressives.

What state do you live in? I'll make sure to hurt you financially when your state does something I disagree with.

Deal?

[99Forever]

6. I live in Minnesota.

Have at it.

[democrat_patriot]

7. Does MN even have tourism?

We can just call it even.

[99Forever]

9. If you need to ask.

Bet you know the rest.

[struggle4progress]

4. We lose when folk don't fight effectively: what good does it do,

two days AFTER the election, to complain to the NC Division of Tourism?

You can bet the NC Division of Tourism tosses your diatribe into their "crazy crank letters" file -- because the Division of Tourism didn't spend, and doesn't spend and won't be spending, time or money on anything related to the amendment anyway, and because the Division of Tourism didn't get to cast a ballot

So there's no point of your letter, aside from feeding your own smug self-righteous sense of superiority

What were you doing BEFORE the election to slay this dragon?

[99Forever]

5. Just what the f**k would you..

... have had me do "before the election"? It's more than a thousand miles from my home. We're living on the edge of poverty. I can't vote there. So, smart guy, tell me exactly what it is I should have done and precisely what YOU did "before the election." (and quite clearly, whatever it was, didn't have much effect.)

[struggle4progress]

8. Yeah, that's why your letter's gonna land in the "crazy cranks" file:

all state agencies get crank mail -- I'm not ever coming back to NC until your governor stops covering up the UFO sightings near Fayetteville &c&c


As for what some of us did here: look for the midstate turquoise blob in this map:

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/36596/80787/en/md.html?cid=425000010

[struggle4progress]

11. After you look some at the map I just posted, you might also ask yourself

whether Dare county in the east and Buncombe county in the west -- two prime tourism destinations here in NC -- hadn't already gotten the message

[99Forever]

12. My friend...

... the ONLY method I have to affect NC, is by not doing business with it and telling them why. Sorry you don't like it, but it's up to you, the residents and voters there to make the change to will alter the view the World now has of you. Tell it to your state legislature and governor. Tell them they are hurting the finances and reputation of your state. Regardless of your reasons for trying to dissuade me from expressing my outrage and taking the only action available to me, I remain adamant.

[struggle4progress]

13. I think you should get the facts first and only suggest an analysis second.

First, under Article XIII, Section 4 of the state constitution

A proposal of a new or revised Constitution or an amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be initiated by the General Assembly, but only if three-fifths of all the members of each house shall adopt an act submitting the proposal to the qualified voters of the State for their ratification or rejection. The proposal shall be submitted at the time and in the manner prescribed by the General Assembly. If a majority of the votes cast thereon are in favor of the proposed new or revised Constitution or constitutional amendment or amendments, it or they shall become effective January first next after ratification by the voters unless a different effective date is prescribed in the act submitting the proposal or proposals to the qualified voters.

See? The governor is not mentioned and has nothing whatsoever to do with this. So your suggestion that we should all contact the governor is pointless

Second, the current Republican-controlled legislature voted in September 2011 to send this Amendment for popular vote during the May 2012 primary. There's not a chance the Republicans will push to undo this amendment before adjourning this legislative session sine die -- the only reason we have this dragon rampant on the field is because the Republicans won in November 2010. So your suggestion that we should all contact our legislators is also pointless: the only thing that makes sense is to try to wrestle control of the General Assembly back from the Republicans in November 2012

See? There were eight (8) -- count 'em, eight (8) -- months between the time the Troglodytes put this on the calendar and the primary election. And you waited until AFTER the election to start whining: that simply gets no respect from me

[99Forever]

19. Yeah... sure...

I have nothing better to do than keep track of what YOUR legislature is doing. Are you effen kidding? If you don't want to contact YOUR governor or YOUR legislature, that's YOUR choice. Do or don't do whatever the fuck you want, as will I.

As to "whining," since you've devolved into insulting me on a personal level, consider yourself of no interest to me from this point forward.

Have a nice day.

[struggle4progress]

22. So far you've suggested three actions, none of which will have any effect:

barking at the NC Division of Tourism, which plays no role in the process and had nothing whatsoever to do with this;
barking at the Governor, who plays no role in the process an had nothing whatsoever to do with this;
and barking at the General Assembly

Now organized barking at the General Assembly might have made some difference back last August -- but there's not a chance in hell it will make any difference now: we're in the second year of our two year legislative session. In past years, before Republicans gained control, both chambers of the General Assembly refused to debate "marriage amendments" -- but since the Republicans (now in control) wanted the Amendment, and got it, they have no motive to roll-back what they consider a victory, and they probably couldn't if they changed their minds, since the cross-over date for the two year legislative session (the date by which legislation must pass one chamber to remain active during the remainder of the session) was sometime in the spring of 2011

See? Three strikes: you're out

[bubbalubagus]

10. NC resident here

So embarassed. I knew it would pass just bc of the polling, and, well, I know a lot of ppl in this state, even "good" ppl who would be ashamed to admit they voted for this measure in public, but did it anyway out of some misguided sense of duty. There are so many reasons for this, where to begin?
For starters, $. I read on Wiki the night before that the final figures were $2,250,000.00 for Protect Our Families and something like $79,000.00 for the opposition to the bill. A lot of outside money and influence poured in this election cycle, and it only looks to get worse bc it is a battleground state.
Next, is "cultural", now I've only lived in Watauga and Wake Counties, two that rejected the measure, but I've travelled every corner and know firsthand how insecure many men are here. "I ain't no homophobe! I could take any gay in a fight!" is something I've heard more than once sadly.
Next, can we go back to Protect Our Families, just the name is disgusting. But the idea that you can only elevate yourself by putting others down, keeping them "in their place" is something that is deeply rooted here. Furthermore, Rush Radio is HUGE here, and every time i tune in (against my better judgement) he is hard at work making white Christians feel like victims. Guess it's easier to feel like a victim than to admit you have many advantages over others. Couple that with the fact that most of our voting places are churches, black culture's rejection of homosexuality, and a growing resentment of urban areas/urbanization, and you have a recipe for bigotry.
Just the timing says it all, there is a growing acceptance of equality countrywide, and old and dying Repubs decided it was "now or never" to get this put in the books and give it the appearance of ligitimacy. When in fact, it is thinly veiled hatred.

[Glitterati]

14. I'm certain you feel bad, but

how the he** did this even get on the ballot? If they couldn't get it passed in California for heaven's sake, what would make ANYone think you could pass an amendment like this in the Bible Belt??????

And, I say this from the deep south (GA). There's just no way in hell this was going to turn out well in a place like North Carolina.

But, yeah, I won't be spending any tourist dollars there either, even though my favorite place in the whole world is Cherokee, NC and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

[bubbalubagus]

15. wow, u confused me. for context, see struggle4progress' most recent post

what made them think they could pass an amendment like this? um, that's kind of what my whole post was about. there was every indication that they could get a measure like this passed. the vote was 62-38 %, a wide margin to be sure, but I can't help but feel that in their heart of black hearts they had expected an even wider margin.

also, don't deprive yourself of the Blue Ridge Parkway just bc of this vote. it was a very carefully worded amendment, i feel if it had said "should we not allow same sex couples to marry?" it would have been rejected, so much of these things is in the presentation, every pollster will tell you that. i forsee a day when another ballot initiative says "should we change the X year old amendment 1 of the NC state constitution to say 'any one person can marry any one person'?" and have it pass as well.

here's hoping.

[struggle4progress]

16. It got on the ballot because the Republicans won the General Assembly in 2010

for the first time since Reconstruction

[Glitterati]

18. I'm confused

Because the post above yours says otherwise.

It would be nice if I could just get an straight answer - was this voter initiated to put it on the ballot? Or was it a ballot question put on by the legislature?

In GA, we have the same stupidity. But it was put on the ballot by the republican legislature, and not by voter initiative. It would be equally stupid to put this on the ballot by voter initiative in Georgia and would lose by the same margin.

It's not about winning or losing at this point. The only remaining question is who the hell thought this was a good idea?

[struggle4progress]

21. The troglodytes in the legislature dumped this on us

[mmonk]

20. Where do you live?

I have Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, and Thom Hartmann on my radio when I'm in my car.

[mmonk]

17. Fine with me. Embarass the hell out of government officials and citizens alike.

But of course the workers at our tourism office had nothing to do with it. But if you can strike fear into them whereby they complain to the legislature, more power to you.