Number four on WHQR’s top ten news story countdown for all of 2011 is the passage of the Defense of Marriage act by the state legislature.
WHQR’s Michelle Bliss reports that North Carolina voters will decide in May on a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state.
The Senate voted in September in favor of putting the question on the statewide primary ballot. The amendment would change the state constitution to say that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union recognized by the state.
North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast without this kind of language in its constitution.
Early next year, a group opposed to the measure, Equality NC, is launching a 5-month Race to the Ballot campaign in an effort to defeat the amendment at the polls in May.
Tune in Friday as we wrap up WHQR’s 2011 Top Ten Countdown of news stories across the Cape Fear region and state.