CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Several mayors of cities across the Carolinas have signed onto a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, as it prepares to take up arguments on marriage equality in April.

The brief was submitted by Freedom to Marry’s Mayors for the Freedom to Marry Coalition. The brief was signed by 226 individually named mayors, in addition to 40 cities across the country.

Los Angeles’ city attorney authored the brief, to be filed at the Supreme Court today.

“Municipalities, as the level of government most closely connected to the community they serve, bear a great burden when a target sector of their populace is denied the right to marry,” the brief reads in part. “When the freedom to marry is denied, municipalities are the first level of government to suffer the impact.”

Carolinas mayors signing onto the brief include: Durham’s William Bell, Chapel Hill’s Mark Kleinschmidt, Carrboro’s Lydia Lavelle, Asheville’s Esther Manheimer, Creedmoor’s Darryl Moss, Hillsborough’s Tom Stevens and Sarah Sherwood, mayor of Abbeville, S.C.

Additionally, the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill also signed the brief.

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Matt Comer

Matt Comer previously served as editor from October 2007 through August 2015 and as a staff writer afterward in 2016.

3 replies on “Carolinas mayors sign Supreme Court marriage brief”

  1. I notice that the Mayor of Charlotte did NOT sign onto the Supreme Court brief. We have a serious leadership problem in Charlotte when it comes to civil rights. Time to make some changes. When the chips were down, our politicians caved, and voted like Republicans. A sad day in Charlotte History.

    1. I am also disgusted that the Mayor of Charlotte didn’t sign. I know that he is a member of the Mayors for Marriage Equality. Why he didn’t sign this brief is a mystery. I hope to find out!

  2. I am disgusted that both Mark Rosen and Maureen Hendricks would suggest that the failure to sign this petition is indicative of a lack of support for marriage equality. Mayor Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte was one of only 17 State Senators that voted against putting amendment one ( the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage) on the ballot. He didn’t cave in and act like a Republican. In my home county, our openly gay mayor Elic Senter is not one of the signers of this brief. I suspect they either don’t know about the specific brief or they weren’t asked to sign it.

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