NC Posters: How are you voting on Amendment 1?

[Miles]

Eh, I'm slightly leaning towards voting against it just to spite the Assembly Republicans.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Why are you on the fence about it?

Literally nothing would change if this amendment failed.
Gay marriage is already banned in North Carolina, it's not like this would legalize it if it passed.

There is no justified reason to support this amendment.

We all know MilesC56 and Klecly are eschewing rational justifications in favor of religious theocracy in 2012.

Bravo chaps, bravo.

I don't consider myself especially religious.

What's your rationale for still considering a yes vote, then?  (I think the religion issue is overplayed, since this is civil marriage, but I don't see anything resembling a decent public policy argument for Constitutionally banning gay civil unions [!!!].)

I don't even see why there is necessarily an inherent assumption that social consevatism must be religiously derived.

For instance, my motivations for holding the socially conservative positions that I have, has absolutely nothing to do with anything remotely religious, as I am very secular and at one point was even atheist.

[Miles]

Why are you on the fence about it?

Literally nothing would change if this amendment failed.
Gay marriage is already banned in North Carolina, it's not like this would legalize it if it passed.

There is no justified reason to support this amendment.

We all know MilesC56 and Klecly are eschewing rational justifications in favor of religious theocracy in 2012.

Bravo chaps, bravo.

I don't consider myself especially religious.

What's your rationale for still considering a yes vote, then?  (I think the religion issue is overplayed, since this is civil marriage, but I don't see anything resembling a decent public policy argument for Constitutionally banning gay civil unions [!!!].)

I don't even see why there is necessarily an inherent assumption that social consevatism must be religiously derived.

For instance, my motivations for holding the socially conservative positions that I have, has absolutely nothing to do with anything remotely religious, as I am very secular and at one point was even atheist.

Agreed. A few of my social beliefs are derived from the church (e.g, anti-euthanasia, anti-death penalty) but most of my beliefs are based on my experiences.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I think it's a question of this issue specifically rather than social conservatism in general, since sociologically speaking the number of problems stemming from gay marriage in jurisdictions that have legalized it is...not thought to be great. There are probably secular systems of normative ethics that would tend towards opposition to homosexuality but other than ones that are hardline antisexual in general I'm having trouble thinking of any.

[Alcon]

I don't even see why there is necessarily an inherent assumption that social consevatism must be religiously derived.

For instance, my motivations for holding the socially conservative positions that I have, has absolutely nothing to do with anything remotely religious, as I am very secular and at one point was even atheist.

I didn't assume social conservatism must be religiously derived.  I said that the secular policy arguments against gay marriage strike me as the least convincing of basically any policy arguments out there.  I frankly can't imagine being opposed to gay marriage even as a social conservative, unless I was ridiculously traditionalist-for-the-sake-of-traditionalism...and I think everyone here is more thoughtful than that.  That's why I'm asking why the folks here are leaning what they are.

I also understand the tendency to turn against annoying things, but for a policy vote that has many years' worth of effects, voting on something so transient...