North Carolina GOP
Leaders to Promote
Same-Sex Marriage
Amy Hruby, StaffWriter
The North Carolina state legislature
returns September 12th for the con
vening of a new session during which
Republican leaders in the House of
Representatives have announced they
will push for a state constitutional
amendment to ban same-sex mar
riage—possibly making North Caroli
na the final state in the Southeastern
US to pass such an amendment.
In an August 30th press conference,
House Speaker Pro Tern Dale Folwell
was quoted by the News and Observer
as saying “It’s time we settled this is
sue. People in favor of this will live or
die by how the people of North Caro
lina feel about it. ... Power needs to be
pushed away from this building and
back to the people.” North Carolina
currently has a law that defines mar
riage as between a man and a woman,
but House Majority leader Paul Stam
argued that the readings of equal
protection laws to include same-sex
couples make a state constitutional
amendment necessary to resolve
the ambiguity in North Carolina (as
reported by The Washington Post).
He further asserted that “in countries
around the world where they have
legitimized same-sex marriage, mar
riage itself is de-legitimized ... About
a fourth of the world allows polyga
my. Polygamy would be next.”
In opposition to the proposed amend
ment, House Minority leader Joe
Hackney released the following state
ment to the News and Observer: “This
proposed constitutional amendment
runs against the tide of history, and
has become a form of hate speech.
Modern corporations do not toler
ate this kind of discrimination and
neither should our state. But many of
us recognize this unneeded amend
ment is not about rights or morality.
It is part of the Republican politi
cal strategy to drive Republicans to
the polls in 2012 while suppressing
Democratic voting through voter ID
legislation and cutbacks in early vot
ing.” NC Democratic Party Chairman
David Parker shared a similar senti
ment, saying “The Republicans in the
General Assembly have made it clear
that their intention is to turn back
the clock on our economy by push
ing divisive social issues—talk about
misplaced priorities. This amendment
will only stifle job creation and hinder
our economic recovery.”
After the legislature reconvenes in
September, both the House and the
Senate must pass a constitutional
amendment with a three-fifths vote
before it can be sent to the voters.
The Republican party did gain con
trol of the legislature in January, but
they will still need support from some
Democratic legislators for the amend
ment to be approved. If it is passed
legislatively, voters will likely see the
amendment on ballots in November
2012.
\
For more information, see these
articles:
http://projects.newsobserver.com/
under_the_dome / gop_leaders_
push_for_samesex_marriage_ban
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
news/20ii/aug/3o/gop-leaders-
push-to-have-marriage-defined-in-
nc/
What’s Up In Raleigh: 9/7-9/21
Collected by Ashleigh Phillips
■ 8-10: Hopscotch Music Festival @ participating downtown venues
15-18: Sparkcon @ participating downtown venues
7: Terry Brooks @ Quail Ridge Books & Music
9: Paperhand Puppet Intervention @ NCMA
13: Okkervil River with Wye Oak @ Lincoln Theater
17: NC State vs. South Alabama @ Carter Finley Stadium
Inflowential @ Pour House
18: Lupe Fiasco @ Raleigh Amphitheater
19: Raleigh Drum Circle @ Lake Johnson
21: Fleet Foxes with the Walkmen @ Raleigh Amphitheater
Schooner and Practice Boyz @ Slim’s Downtown
Nov 6: The Screwtape Letters @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
Wolf Parade and Ogre You Asshole @ Lincoln Theater
Nov 9: Soft Company and Bear Hands @ Kings
Tata in Talks for
Reassignment
Molly Ashline, StaffWriter
image via wcpss.net
According to an article pub
lished in the News and Observer
by Thomas Goldsmith and Hueng
Kui on August 16th, Tony Tata,
the superintendent of Wake
County schools, revealed the
results of a reassignment poll
which gave families the option
of choosing from a list of el
ementary schools their children
could attend in Wake County.
Overwhelmingly, families chose
the schools based on proximity
not merit. These results will be
important for Tata if he considers
revising his pro-diversity reas
signment plan before he brings it
before the board for approval.
Tata’s plan includes giving the
opportunity for students in low-
scoring schools to attend high-
achievement schools, though
schools may be far away. It also
includes allowing students to
choose from magnet schools in
the area, yet Tata still wants to
spare a percentage of seats for
application students.
His plan -colorfully called the
“blue plan”—gives priority to stu
dents living closer to the school
of their choice and is supposed
to support academic growth in
the county, as stated by the Wake
County Public Schools website.
Tata faces an opponent to his
ambitious plan though. The only
Democrat on the board, Keith
Sutton, prefers the green plan.
This design would assure that all
schools in the county would not
drop below a ten percent devia
tion for academic success below
the average. Most members of
the board, however, tend to side
with Tata.
When Tata joined Wake County
in December, after a short, un
successful stint in DC schools as a
purchasing agent, many believed
that he would not support diver
sity programs in schools. As a re
tired Brigadier General, Tata was
a conservative choice for Wake
County. He has evidently proven
many wrong since his initial ideas
about this blue plan in March.
Still, his history in education may
leave some people skeptical about
his future success in his rela
tively new North Carolina setting.
While serving in DC, Tata had
a record of lax uustomer service
and late book deliveries among
other complaints, according to
an article published in February
2010 in a Washington Post article
by Billy Turque. Tata will have to
overcome this sketchy history in
his career in Wake County to gain
more support among his constitu
ents and among the students he
serves.
Despite this prospect of greater
diversity in Wake County schools,
there still remain many questions
about what the outcome of the
board decision will have on the
students, on their performance,
on the budget, and on the schools
in general. For instance, will the
levels of proficiency in the schools
actually be positively altered due
to this change? What effect will
these seemingly constant reas
signments have on the students?
How much will such a big adjust
ment cost, and in turn, how much
will that increase the burden on
taxpayers? In the most highly
populated county in North Caro
lina, will a man with very little
educational experience do what is
in the best interest for everyone
or will he simply weaken Wake
County schools? The decision of
Tata’s plan will be reached by
2012, and whether that decision is
for the better or not will be evi
dent soon enough.