by Julie Rose, WFAE.org
North Carolina voters will decide whether to ban same-sex marriage in the state's constitution next May, rather than in the November general election. The timing has serious political implications.
Same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina, but this is the only southern state that has yet to actually write that ban into its constitution. The vote to put it on the ballot fell mostly along party lines at the state legislature this week.
Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer says Democrats were in a tough spot. Without enough votes to defeat the measure, opponents saw putting it on the primary ballot as a way to "take the lesser of the two evils and see what happens eventually in the courts."
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FULL STORY: Primary Vote on Gay Marriage 'Lesser of Two Evils' for Democratic Lawmakers (WFAE.org)
