NC - First in Flight, Last in Acceptance

Today was voting day in NC and Marshall and I decided to exercise one our most beautiful rights - the right to Vote. It felt so good to be able to vote Against Amendment One which I believe takes away not only the rights of gay people but the rights of unwed couples. Unfortunately, I fear that Amendment One will pass being that NC is such a religious state. There are so many Christians here that still believe that God intended love only to be between a man and a woman so anyone that has feelings otherwise should be bastardized and not given equal rights. It's the one thing I hate about this state. I for one have lots of gay friends that I love and believe they should have all the same rights I do. I feel sometimes as though we got past treating people of a different color skin badly and now we have moved on to treating gay people badly.

I decided today that the most beautiful thing I saw was all the posts on Facebook of everyone getting out there and exercising their constitutional right to Vote! I especially loved all my friends who took their children to teach them about this freedom we have and who taught them about Amendment One and how voting for an amendment that discriminates against a group of people is wrong. I applaud these parents for that's the type of parent I want to be. I want to teach my children right from wrong and to love and respect people no matter how different they may be from you because they are still people. Nobody deserves to be discriminated against. Everyone deserves a fair shake at life and all the freedoms and liberties that our country offers. My absolute favorite Facebook post was this picture from my friend Kari of herself and her son. The caption adjoining it read, "I voted hoping u can marry who ever u want.:) "

The rest of these pictures are some of my favorite pictures "borrowed" from my friends' Facebook pages. I hope you see the beauty in all of them like I do.

UPDATE: As of 9:30pm it does appear that Amendment One has passed.

I'm really disappointed in you NC. I thought we had moved past being judgemental and could finally accept all people as human beings that deserve the same rights as every other human being regardless of their ethnicity, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. I guess not.

NC - First in Flight, Last in Acceptance.