North Carolina General Assembly passed SB514, referring same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment to 2012 ballot

On September 13, 2011, the North Carolina Senate voted 30-16 to concur with House changes to Senate Bill 514, completing General Assembly passage of a proposed amendment to the North Carolina Constitution providing that marriage between one man and one woman "is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State." The House had passed the bill 75-42 the day before, after roughly three and a half hours of debate. Sen. Peter Brunstetter (R-Forsyth) was the measure's primary sponsor. The bill was ratified as Session Law 2011-409 on September 14, 2011, sending the amendment to North Carolina voters as a ballot referendum scheduled for May 8, 2012.

As a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, SB514 required no gubernatorial signature to reach the ballot; General Assembly passage alone placed a proposal to constitutionalize a categorical marriage exclusion for same-sex couples before the electorate. State law already defined marriage as between a man and a woman, so the amendment's effect was to entrench that exclusion, and foreclose recognition of civil unions or similar legal statuses, beyond the reach of ordinary legislative or judicial reconsideration.

Updates

2012-05-08 — North Carolina voters approved marriage amendment 61%-39% [4]

North Carolina voters approved the amendment (Amendment One) by a 61%-39% margin on May 8, 2012; it took effect May 23, 2012 as Article XIV, Section 6 of the North Carolina Constitution.

2014-10-10 — Federal judge struck down North Carolina marriage ban as unconstitutional [5]

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled in General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper that North Carolina's marriage laws, including Amendment One, were unconstitutional, following the Fourth Circuit's Bostic v. Schaefer decision; the ban ceased to be enforced.