CHARLOTTE (AP) — A former GOP nominee for governor and mayor of Charlotte is one of the highest-profile Republicans opposing North Carolina’s proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Richard Vinroot is speaking up after state House Speaker Thom Tillis predicted the amendment could be repealed within a generation because young people tend to support same-sex marriage rights.
Vinroot says he doesn’t see the point of changing the state Constitution for something the Republican House speaker thinks is tenuous.
Tillis emphasized he thinks voters will approve the amendment in May, which would define marriage in the state constitution as between one man and one woman.
Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers of Dunn and John Hood, the president of the conservative John Locke Foundation, also announced their opposition.