CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Voters are deciding Tuesday on North Carolina's Amendment One.
North Carolina already has a statute banning gay marriage, but if voters approve the amendment, the state constitution would then define marriage as between one woman and one man.
If Amendment One passes, it would take effect as soon as the vote is ratified by the secretary of state -- possibly next week.
That could signal the beginning of a flurry of legal action to try to get rid of it.
Attorney Luke Largess said he expects lawsuits involving Mecklenburg County. Just over a year ago, commissioners approved benefits for same-sex partners.
“If the amendment passes, is the county going to take away those benefits?” Largess said. “And if they don't, is someone going to challenge that legally?”
Others could argue it threatens protections for domestic violence victims who are not married.
Or, under the First Amendment, separating religion from government.
“Whether the state should be involved in what has now become a very divided theological debate,” Largess said.
UNC Charlotte professor John Szmer also expects a discrimination lawsuit.
“There's going to be a 14th Amendment federal lawsuit that tries to determine whether the amendment discriminated based on sexual orientation,” he said.
Szmer said that argument worked to overturn Proposition 8 in California.
But it may not work here. Californians already had the right to gay marriage, and in North Carolina, they don't.
“The question is whether the logic from the California case can be extended to North Carolina, because the situation is different,” Szmer said.
The lawsuits could go on for years and put North Carolina in the national spotlight of a very contentious debate.