North Carolina voters recently approved an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The amendment outlaws same sex marriage and threatens the recognition of civil unions and domestic partnerships. In the months leading up to the May vote, organizations like Equality NC and All of Us NC, fanned out across the state, using organizing tools from the Civil Rights Movement as well as social media and the Internet to spread the word against the amendment. They lost the fight but believe they can still win the war now that the infrastructure for combating inequality legislation is in place. Host Frank Stasio is joined by a panel of organizers from the fight against the amendment including Jen Jones, Manju Rajendran, Tiffany Holland and Nego Crosson.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.