Drums shook the air as a group of 30 people waved signs and shouted from the sidewalk to protest what they see as an unjust court ruling in California.
"Gay, straight, black, white, marriage is a civil right!" they yelled.
This was not Sunset Boulevard, but Market Street in downtown Greensboro yesterday. There, protesters challenged the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman in its state constitution. Justin Nichols, who helped organize the protest, said he's glad that North Carolina hadn't allowed voters to define marriage through a constitutional amendment. North Carolina remains the only southeastern state that hasn't done so.
"What went on in California is terrible," Nichols said.
N.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, told the group gathered in front of the Guilford County Courthouse that the legislature has resisted passing a marriage amendment because, "We don't want to write discrimination and hate into our constitution."
Since 2003, North Carolina representatives have proposed a Defense of Marriage bill in every legislative session, each time seeing it rejected before it came to the floor for debate.
Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, a primary supporter of the bill, said that the amendment is a way to protect children from being raised by same-sex couples.
"We have a lot of experience with the way to raise children over many thousands of years, and we know a few things that don't work," Stam said in a telephone interview.
Stam worries that without an amendment, gay marriage is more likely to be legalized in the state. He cited the recent court decision allowing same-sex unions in Iowa as an example.
"Our constitutional and statutory regime is almost identical to Iowa," he said.
Meanwhile, advocates of same-sex marriage are less confident that gay unions will become legal in the short term.
"Marriage equality is not right around the corner in North Carolina, either through the legislature or the courts," said Ian Palmquist, the executive director of Equality North Carolina.
Nevertheless, the protesters' loud chants and pounding drumbeats sounded out the message that same-sex marriage proponents are not backing down.
Several local activists say that there has been an upswing in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activism in North Carolina recently.
Thomas Farmer, the president of the Winston-Salem chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays said that it has become less of a support group for victims of harassment and more of an advocate for the gay community.
"There is a certain amount of energy there that I haven't seen in the 11-plus years I've been in Winston-Salem," Farmer said.
One meeting of the group in May drew about 50 people, many of whom were straight, Farmer said.
Gay and lesbian couples in North Carolina hope that connecting with their communities will create greater recognition of their rights.
Winston-Salem residents Frank Benedetti and Gary Trowbridge have been together for 45 years and enjoy the support of most local residents.
"We're very open about our relationship," Benedetti said. "I think people appreciate that and don't see us as being any kind of a threat."
He said that allowing same-sex couples to wed is a matter of fairness and hopes that most U.S. citizens will eventually recognize that principle.
"If people get to know you and see you as a fellow human being, I think that's the best way to change minds," Benedetti said.
Cathy Holbrook, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro, recently moved to North Carolina with Diana Sharkey, her partner of almost 15 years.
Holbrook said that the election of President Obama and the expansion of gay rights are a result of a legacy of civil-rights activism.
"Somebody had to get on the bus and drink out of the fountain," she said.
Holbrook said she wants to help legalize gay marriage in North Carolina so she and Sharkey can someday lawfully marry. "Hopefully, we'll be part of that movement. I don't care if I'm 80, I'll be standing there on the (church) steps," Holbrook said.
■ Christian Kloc can be reached at 727-7270 or at ckloc@wsjournal.com.
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