*** UPDATE (6/11/15): SB 2 passed the override vote in the NC House. It is now legal for state officials to deny marriage licenses based on "sincerely held religious beliefs" in NC. ***

I believe a lot of things. In fact, a lot of these beliefs are sincerely held. For example, I believe that Bigfoot lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I believe that my son will grow-up to be President of the United States. And I believe that the leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly are full of it. (That one is a very sincerely held belief. I even have some data to back that one up.)

When the NC General Assembly introduced Senate Bill 2, the intention was to allow magistrates to opt-out of officiating same-sex marriages in our state if doing so would run counter to the individual’s “sincerely held religious belief”. Legislators were well aware of the legal, moral, and political ramifications of these type of proposals. After all, nineteen states have so-called religious freedom laws. Indiana passed a similar law earlier this year, but the NC-version of the law goes further than any other law on the books anywhere.