May 3, 2012
Roughly half of the yard signs around North Carolina supporting a proposed constitutional marriage amendment have been stolen or damaged, according to Vote FOR Marriage NC, the group promoting the amendment, Baptist Press reports. Meanwhile, the latest poll shows the amendment -- which would define marriage as being between one man and one woman -- maintaining a 14-point lead. Rachel Lee, communications director for Vote FOR Marriage NC, said her office was getting calls and visits multiple times a day from people requesting new signs because their old ones were gone or destroyed. "We have distributed tens of thousands of yard signs across the state, and about half of them are now gone," she said. In some instances, she said, people vandalize the signs and then post pictures on Facebook or Twitter. There have also been instances of billboards being defaced, including one paid for by a church. In Hickory, N.C., a church marquee promoting a "Marriage Sunday" was vandalized, although the sign did not mention the amendment itself; someone spray-painted "Hate Speech" on one side and "Love Not Hate" on the other. If the amendment passes, North Carolina would become the 30th state defining traditional marriage in a state constitution and preventing state courts from legalizing gay marriage.
