The battle for or against marriage equality (whichever you prefer) in North Carolina is heating up as the following video shows. Folks who are pushing the anti-marriage equality amendment are pulling out all of the stops, i.e. the religious argument, the racial argument, and even the anatomy argument:

I’m not going to say a word about that lock and key thing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you haven’t seen the video.

And in the midst of this is a little deception from the National Organization for Marriage. NOM pulled the following portion from a larger Associated Press article on the issue:

Several black ministers who spoke at a later news conference said it’s contrary to the Christian faith and the Bible for same-sex couples to marry. They called on the Legislature to let the public vote on adding the prohibition to the constitution to protect the institution of marriage. The Rev .Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church in Fayetteville said gay rights activists have offended black people by equating the efforts to support gay marriage with civil rights activities in the 1960s to remove racism from the law books. “Blacks know what real discrimination is all about,” said Hunter, referring to slavery and Jim Crow-era laws that preventing blacks from voting. “They’re disrespecting … the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.

The comment itself is ignorant and offensive in that Mr. Hunter and those ministers have taken it upon themselves to speak for the black community, including gays and lesbians of color who would be hurt by the amendment. The comments are even more offensive in the context that NOM is pushing them, i.e. making it seem that the black community as a whole in NC does support marriage equality.

But the state NAACP does not support the amendment. The following is the portion of the article which NOM omitted:

. . . the Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the sponsors of the amendment bill, who are overwhelmingly Republican, are actually trying to take civil rights backward with the amendment. “No matter our color or faith traditions, those who stand for love and justice are not about to fall for this amendment trick,” Barber said in a statement released by the state NAACP.

Finally to add to the mix comes the anti-gay hate group, the Family Research Council:

The Family Research Council has released a series of radio ads in North Carolina, calling for the state legislature to place a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality for gays and lesbians on the ballot this November. North Carolina already prohibits same-sex marriage by statute, but the FRC says it’s not enough, warning, “Our laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman could be overturned.” Organizers of the marriage amendment have called marriage equality an evil plot concocted by Satan and said an amendment is needed to “put a big letter of shame on the behavior.” According to findings from Public Policy Polling published today, while 61% of state voters oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, just 30% support the constitutional amendment.

Great. How long will it be before NOM comes out with their “gay marriage is a way to harm children” flyers or FRC’s Peter Sprigg pushes his distorted studies.

And I thought the folks in Minnesota were going to have issues dealing with NOM’s mess.

Apparently the good folks in NC are going to have the same issues with NOM and FRC.

Pray for ’em.