HRC Blog

With only one day to go until Primary Day in North Carolina, HRC members and staff across the state continue to work around the clock to do everything in their power to defeat Amendment 1 on next Tuesday's ballot.  Although I am an HRC field staffer assigned to the Marylanders for Marriage Equality campaign, with so much at stake here in North Carolina, HRC has sent additional staff from all across the country into the state in order to assist the Protect All NC Families campaign with its momentous Get Out the Vote operation.  I have spent all week phonebanking and canvassing in Western North Carolina. It has been so inspiring for me to work side by side with the talented campaign staff and the dedicated HRC volunteers who work out of the field office in Asheville, nestled in between the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains.

I knocked almost 500 doors in the Asheville areas with my volunteer brothers and sisters. When we aren't knocking doors, we are phonebanking to ensure that people vote against Amendment 1. We are doing all of this because Amendment 1 would constitutionally define marriage between a man and a woman as the only legal domestic union recognized in the state, effectively making all current domestic partnerships in the state null and void. That means over 250,000 hetero and homosexual couples would lose the benefits and protections every loving couple and families need and deserve.  It would be the first time since 1835 that the NC Constitution has been used to strip people of their rights rather than grant them.

I have been so inspired by the dedication and generosity of the HRC family in North Carolina and across the country.  Last week, I worked with Long Island Political Co-Chair Patty Ellis as she hosted a phonebank in New York to make GOTV calls to supporters in NC against Amendment 1.  HRC member McKenzie Dillingham has graciously opened up her house and home with all the hospitality of the south, proving me a nice warm meal every night at the end of the long 15 hour campaign day and comfy bed to rest up so I can start all over again the next day. McKenzie also hosted HRC’s Southern Regional Field Director, Karin Quimby,  who is one of the directors  of  the campaign against Amendment 1, as she came through Western Northern Carolina to deliver more needed computers for us to use in the field office as we gear up for Tuesday.  HRC staff is working hard, spread throughout the state, so it is always a pleasure when I get to crisscross with one of my colleagues, albeit briefly.

If you are located in North Carolina, we need you! We only have one day to go to ensure we defeat Amendment 1 and protect all  NC Families. For more information on how you can help, please email HRC’s North Carolina Regional Field Organizer Chris at [email protected].