With only a week before North Carolin ‘s party primary on Tuesday, May 8, campaigns against Amendment One have come to a head on campus and elsewhere.

Amendment One became the voters’ responsibility on Sept. 12, 2011, after  the state legislature sent the issue to the ballot.Though commonly called “the gay marriage amendment,” Amendment One deals with the definition of all civil unions, not just homosexual ones.

The text of the Amendment reads, “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”

Though many interpret this to apply to gay couples, the language of the amendment has implications for any unmarried couple.

Gov . Beverly Perdue recently visited Charlotte to speak out against Amendment One.

“It could change the laws that determine outcomes like emergency financial decisions, hospital visitation rights, and child custody laws,” Perdue said in a press release. “And it could take away domestic violence protections for all unmarried women in the state of North Carolina. So on May 8, I’ll be voting against amendment one, and I hope you’ll join me.”

While Perdue is  opposed to the amendment, many of her fellow North Carolina politicians do not share her sentiment.

Speaker of the House Thom Tillis was equivocal, at best, during a visit to campus March 26 during which he predicted the repeal of the amendment in 20 years, should it pass.

Calling the issue of gay marriage “generational,” Tillis offended many in the crowd who are of the mindset that this amendment is dangerous.

For Justine Hollingshead , director of the GLBT Center, Amendment One isn’t about gay marriage. In fact, she can’t find anything in the amendment that would directly affect the GLBT community’s right to wed.

“We already have two laws on the books that say same sex couples cannot legally marry in North Carolina, and same sex marriages from other states will not be recognized here,” Hollingshead said. “If the amendment passed on May 8, same sex couples would not have any fewer rights than they did before.”

So then what’s all the fuss about? Mainly, it’s about discrimination.

“Very rarely do we amend the constitution to take away rights,” Justine Hollingshead , director of the GLBT Center, said.

Jodie Joseph, s ecretary of N.C . State’s Hillel Jewish Center and senior in animal science, said her religious beliefs tell her to vote against the amendment.

“Since my people have been oppressed from ancient times to present times, I am a strong advocate for civil liberties and am strongly opposed to Amendment One,” Joseph said. “I do not support any bill that is going to restrict rights for anyone, regardless of sexuality. Amendment One will affect a gradient of sexual identities, not just the GLBT community.”

Joseph isn’t the only one looking at the amendment from this perspective. In fact, Governor Perdue made a strong statement of a similar nature on April 13.

“Our constitution is for guaranteeing rights, not taking them away,” Perdue said. “And no matter what religious or moral background you come from, no one has the right to put discrimination of any kind into our constitution.”

Hollingshead agrees wholeheartedly.

“If Amendment One passes, it’s opening up the potential for other implications of taking more rights away,” Hollingshead said.

Yet, Hollingshead said she was even more concerned about is the possibility of people voting without really understanding what the Amendment has the power to do, assuming it only applies to the GLBT community.

“Right now, students can put a domestic partner on their student health insurance plan. That will be gone if the amendment passes,” Hollingshead   said. “Any municipalities whose businesses give rights to domestic partners will also have to stop. That’s going to have an unknown impact on businesses that are trying to recruit and maintain employees. It’s bad for the economy.”

The amendment has stirred several debates, but recent polls provided by Public Policy Polling, show that support for Amendment One is at its lowest level yet.

“Only 54 percent of voters in the state plan to support it, while 40 percent are opposed,” Tom Jensen of PPP posted on the online poll last week. “This is the lowest level of support PPP has found in monthly polling of the amendment since last October… It’s current 14-point lead has been cut almost in half from the 27-point advantage it started out with.”

The GLBT Center offers pamphlets on the Amendment, as well as transportation for early voting.

While the results won’t come out until May 9, Hollingshead urges voters to educate themselves before hitting the polls.

“Do people really know what it means when they’re filling in their little bubbles?” Hollingshead asked. “I worry about the students I work with every day who will feel like less of a person if this passes. How much more do you need to say to me that I don’t matter?”

For transportation to vote early, students and others should go to Reynolds between 11 a.m . and 4 p.m . Monday through Friday of this week. Unregistered voters can register and vote at once during early polling.