The N. Carolina Marriage Amendment: Feeling the Loss

A young man and his boyfriend absorb the blow as North Carolina votes overwhelmingly to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. With a mother involved, too, there is a depth of feeling here we don’t often see in news photos about marriage equality.  If the photo is about loss, however, the t-shirt and the button also speak to participation. If there is a bright side, perhaps the photo also alludes to a future involvement and activism.  Of course, that is a lot of weigh for a photo to carry, but those affected by the ban will not give up this fight. And while the prejudice and religiosity that gave birth to the amendment is local and out-of-step with most of the country, youth is universal and youth supports marriage equality.

–Karen Hull

(photo: Travis Long/The News & Observer – AP) caption: Seth Keel, center, is consoled by his boyfriend, Ian Chambers, left, and his mother Jill Hinton, during a concession speech at an Amendment One opposition party Tuesday, May 8, 2012, at The Stockroom at 230 in downtown Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina voters approved the constitutional amendment Tuesday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.