Bigger and Better

Family North Carolina Magazine—September/October 2008

By R. Matthew Lytle

With this issue, Family North Carolina takes on a longer format. Instead of 32 pages, the magazine now has 40. The decision to expand the magazine is an exciting development for us, since the longer format allows us to include more content as well as more innovative and effective ways to communicate with you, our reader. We begin taking advantage of the extra space by Courtney Gravley. Courtney is the new communications manager here at the Council. She will work on all aspects of our communications, including the magazine, Web site, and other publications. Look for more changes in the coming months.

The “Bullying Bill” was one of the more difficult legislative issues we addressed in the General Assembly this year. Bill Brooks takes a straight forward approach in his commentary and lists the “facts” about this controversial legislation.

The Feature article delves into the effects of the California Supreme Court decision that allows the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples regardless of what state the couples call home. This decision is especially troubling to those states without constitutional amendments defining marriage as the union between one man with one woman at one time, since these states are not totally protected from potential lawsuits from same-sex couples who return home with marriage licenses from California.

Each summer, the North Carolina Family Policy Council enjoys the service of Blackstone Interns from the Alliance Defense Fund. One of these interns, Paul Ribeiro, performs a detailed legal analysis of the California Supreme Court decision and discusses what impact this decision could have on North Carolina. According to Paul’s analysis, North Carolina is especially vulnerable to the effects of the California decision. He concludes that “same-sex marriage might be coming to North Carolina sooner than you think.” Paul’s analysis is incredibly detailed and well-researched, and it is a pleasure to be able to publish it in this issue of Family North Carolina.

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, also deals with same-sex issues when he discusses the idea of the “gay gene.” One of the most widely-used arguments for homosexual rights suggests that if people are born homosexual, then this lifestyle must be right for them. The reason that this argument is so widely used is that it has a certain appeal to peoples’ experiences. As Alan shows, there is more to this argument than meets the eye and it is not as watertight as pro-homosexual activists would have us believe. This argument contains several assumptions below the surface, such as the assumption that people can be “born gay.” As Alan’s article shows, the “born gay” question misses the point.

In other news, the General Assembly’s 2008 “short” legislative session has adjourned. This session was among the more controversial in recent history, mostly due to HB 1366–School Violence Prevention Act. John Rustin, our director of government relations, offers a retrospective of the session and some of the key bills that we followed. Some were considered, many were not. John was in the trenches during the session fighting for traditional family values, so he has valuable insight into the legislative session. We are happy to share some of those insights with our readers.

One of the things we like to showcase in Family North Carolina is a local initiative where local citizens provide a proactive approach to dealing with problems that impact the family. Many times, the Council has to answer challenges to the values that we hold dear. It is a refreshing change to be able to report on an initiative that is proactive in promoting family values. In this issue, freelance writer Joe Murchison reports on a program where churches “adopt” a school by getting involved in the lives of the students. As the article shows, this program yields tangible benefits for schools and students.

Finally, the November election is around the corner. I discuss why voting is not just a privilege; it is a responsibility. One of the driving forces behind this article is the observation that many people are so interested in national-level races that they virtually ignore state and local-level elections. I argue in the article why state and local-levels deserve equal time with high-profile national elections. In the end, it is up to each citizen to vote his or her conscience, so get out there on election day and make a difference.

R. Matthew Lytle is director of research for the North Carolina Family Policy Council.