North Carolina passes gay marriage ban Amendment One

North Carolina voters have passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage today via a statewide ballot measure, according the Associated Press.

North Carolina already had a statute banning gay marriage. Amendment One declares that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state” — vague language that opponents say could threaten domestic partnership protections for all couples while closing the door to any sort of same-sex unions.

Twenty-eight states have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage; another ten ban it by statute. Until today, North Carolina was the only state in the South did not have a constitutional ban.

While the country is about evenly split on gay marriage in polls, supporters have yet to succeed at the ballot box. Statewide ballot measures on gay marriage have come up 31 times since 1998. Advocates for gay marriage lost each time.

Amendment One opponents were better funded than Amendment One rivals. But Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for the anti-amendment Coalition to Protect North Carolina’s Families, told The Fix before the results came in that too much of that money came late in the race.