I'm still proud to be a North Carolinian. This is my home, this is the place I love most in the world. It took moving away for a year and a half to figure that out, but it's undeniably true.
We made a very unpopular decision yesterday, and I'll happily admit that I voted against Amendment One. As a Christian, I believe the Bible is very clear about homosexuality, and I make no apologies for that. And I completely understand that, per the Declaration of Independence, all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That blurs the lines of church and state more than just a little bit. But as a free people governed by citizens who swear to protect individual liberties (including the freedom to believe in absolutely nothing), it's just to make legal decisions that are not influenced by any church of any persuasion.
We're not a progressive state, on the whole. It's just a fact. But if I could justify defriending and unfollowing all the people on Facebook and Twitter who angrily exclaimed that they were "embarrassed and ashamed of North Carolina" last night, I would. You won't fight on behalf of something that embarrasses you. This is an opportunity to take pride in your state and implore it to be better. And I can say with absolute certainty that you'll never change a single person's mind with anger and disownment.
No comments:
Post a Comment