Tagged: 2012 NC Primary

A proposed amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions has divided religious communities. For our series examining the arguments over the amendment, Isaac-Davy Aronson spoke to two North Carolina faith leaders.

Isaac-Davy Aronson: Michael Curry is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. He opposes the amendment.

Michael Curry: This is coming out of my faith, as a Christian, as an Episcopal bishop, as an African American man, you don't do harm to people.

Earlier this week we profiled two Democratic candidates for governor: former U.S. Congressman Bob Etheridge and State House Representative Bill Faison. Today, in the final installment of our series covering the main Democratic candidates, we’ll hear from Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton. He’s from the western town of Rutherfordton, where he was raised by his widowed mother.

Five candidates are running for the Republican nomination for State Superintendent. Dave DeWitt reports that the race will come down to the last days.

Dave DeWitt: The five candidates suffer from a bad case of poor name recognition. Richard Alexander, Mark Crawford, Ray Earnest Martin, John Tedesco and David Scholl are not well-known statewide.

A proposed amendment to the North Carolina constitution would define marriage between one man and one woman as the only valid or recognized domestic legal union in the state. Opponents of the amendment claim its wording would put certain protections and benefits at risk for all unmarried couples and their children. Among them: child custody and visitation rights.

There are three main Democratic candidates in the race to become North Carolina’s governor. Yesterday we heard from State House Representative Bill Faison, who says his priority is jobs. But the subject of today’s story is focused on education. Bob Etheridge is a former U.S. Congressman who also served as the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction for seven years.

Jessica Jones: Bob Etheridge was born at home in Turkey, North Carolina, as the first of five children. He says neither his mother nor his father finished high school.

Opponents of a proposed amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage and civil unions say the measure is written too broadly. Among the effects they claim it could have is the invalidation of domestic violence protections for unmarried couples. Amendment supporters call that a scare tactic.