Since most of the country is going through a news drought, I thought I'd might talk about some of the more interesting things going on in North Carolina, my home state, over the next couple of days.  It seems as if we are going through a cultural reformation of some sort.

Traditional marriage supporters rallied at the Capitol yesterday in order to compel lawmakers to create a referendum that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. 

The (Raleigh) News & Observer says only 500 people attended the event, when they were expecting thousands.  I don't know why they expected that many people, especially when you're having a rally in the middle of the week.  Perhaps these people need more practice in organizing rallies.  Some of the anti-war groups could probably help them with that.

As for the proposed amendment, if I see it on the ballot, I'll probably leave it blank.  I've been critical of gay marriage cases based on principle, considering that most state laws on this issue have been in place for over two centuries and there hasn't been one state that has voted for gay marriage via referendum.  As the Oregon Supreme Court noted in a recent opinion (and I wrote about here), the state has the right to regulate marriage, and always have.  Marriage has never been an individual right, or else polygamy and incest would be considered rights as well, and no one has defended them (yet).

But as far as I'm concerned, I could personally care less if a gay couple call themselves husband and husband, wife and wife, or whatever.  Nor do I see all of the hubbub about this issue outside of legal interpretation.  I also think these movement supporters are being dishonest when they say they're trying to "protect" their children, as the N&O stated was on some of the signs Tuesday.  Last time I heard, homosexuality isn't addictive.  Your child isn't going to turn gay because he saw two men kiss.  It's your job to prepare the child for things that he may see that is out of the ordinary.

That doesn't mean I want to see two women sucking face in public (and no; I don't think two women making out is hot, you pervs).  But nowadays parental and family groups are constantly looking towards government to shield their children from things they don't want to deal with.  Sure; there's a number of things that kids at a certain age are not mature enough to handle.  But one of the hard lessons about growing up is about learning how to adapt to changing circumstances.  Considering this country lives by a creed of freedom, parents need to find new ways to deal with these situations without continuously rallying for more government limitations.

Having said that, if a referendum is placed on the ballot, I'm sure Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. and the NC Supreme Court will abide by the wishes of the electorate, as they should.