A wacky North Carolina tradition fooled the national media on Tuesday, as North Carolina's annual Opposite Day, which occurs every May 8th, made it seem as if the state's voters were a bunch of backwards, out of touch bigots.
"It's funny," said Aurora's Penny O'Connell, who voted for Amendment 1, a ballot amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages and civil unions. "We've been doing Opposite Day every year for as long as I can remember, and every year somebody gets fooled."
Fooled indeed. Much of the national media was taken by the state's indigenous version of April Fools' Day, reporting that North Carolina had voted overwhelmingly to pass Amendment 1 and outlaw gay marriage and domestic partnerships, when in fact 61% had meant their vote to count against the measure.
The amendment, which seemed a throwback to early-2000s Karl Rove wedge politics, passed and is now a rare interruption in the increasing public acceptance of gay marriage, which has recently been legalized in states from Washington to Maryland.
"It's just a coincidence," said Jim Toolmeister of Charlotte, who also voted for Amendment 1. "Usually nothing else happens on May 8, so everybody walks around saying, 'Bad morning' or wearing hats on their feet. This time we amended the state constitution to permanently outlaw a civil right. You never know what's going to go down on May 8th."
Sure enough, many North Carolineans were quite surprised to learn that their votes counted. "I certainly would not have voted for Amendment 1 if I thought it would be a vote for Amendment 1!" said Uriah Van Zandt of Carthage, who certainly did vote for the amendment. "That goes against the entire spirit of the day."
A flustered Dick McPeterson of Durham tried to get his vote back, only to be told it was too late. "Well, what was a civil right doing on the ballot in the first place?" he demanded. "Why would you put a right that should be secured against the whims of public opinion up for a vote at all? Anything could happen!"
Officials are currently investigating who decided to hold a statewide vote on Opposite Day. One thing's for sure: North Carolineans will not be giving up their prized tradition any time soon. "It's one of my favorite parts of living in North Carolina," Shirley Holmes said yesterday, holding her "Pro-Family Anti-Gay" sign outside of a chain fried chicken store. "I mean, how would we look if we did something stupid like get rid of Opposite Day?"
---
Join: PoliticOlogy
Follow: Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry | PoliticOlogy @OlogyPolitics
Comments (1)