By One Vote!

Last year about this time I wrote another post called "By One Vote." At that time I was sharing the bad news that due to coming up one vote short in the Senate during the last week of session, the SVPA died. I'm pleased it has another meaning this year, as the SVPA passed its final vote by just one vote.

Over the last several weeks, our lobbyist Alex Miller and I have been spending long days at the General Assembly working with our legislative champions, Speaker Joe Hackney and his staff, and all of the amazing advocates from our coalition partners to secure and confirm the votes needed for passage.

We went into session for both votes on Monday and Tuesday thinking that we had the narrow majority we needed, but knowing that we couldn't afford to lose even one or two yes votes.

It's a strange feeling when you get to that point in the process. You've spent months educating legislators, talking one on one, encouraging activists in their home districts to contact them, getting the right coalition partner or legislator to check in with each possible supporter, making sure all your supporters are in their chairs for committee votes, and frantically counting and re-counting votes. But when the session gavels in and the chamber doors close, there's not much you can do but sit and watch, and trust that your champions have all the information they need to fend off attacks and get the bill through.

Needless to say, we were pretty anxious as the debate got under way.

The Debate

As those of you who follow us on Twitter know, the NC House had more than an hour and a half of debate Monday night and over another hour on Tuesday (Archive of tweets).

Fundamentally, the debate was about what kind of state North Carolina wants to be. Are we a state that values all people regardless of difference, or a state that concedes to those who put fear and prejudice ahead of the safety of children?

The proponents of the bill who spoke were truly inspiring. House lead sponsor Rep. Rick Glazier led the debate both days with impassioned pleas to protect all children and vote for the bill.

We thought he was great Monday when he told his own story of being kicked out of a pool for being Jewish as a child, and we wondered how he could top himself on Tuesday. But he came into session with a fire in his belly, fiercely speaking out against the lies opponents were telling against the bill.

As usual, opposition to the bill was led off by Rep. Paul Stam. He ran through the opposition talking points, mainly arguing against enumeration. Nearly every "fact" he offered was wrong. Rep. Nelson Dollar, Rep. Marilyn Avila, and Rep. John Blust also spoke against the bill.

A few highlights from our side:

• Rep. Tricia Cotham spoke from her experience as a vice principal: "Opponents believe there are some kids who just aren't worth protecting. That is wrong."
• Rep. Phil Haire took the opposition's fact sheet and turned it on them, quoting the U.S. Supreme Court's endorsement of enumeration as an "essential device."
• Rep. Mickey Michaux reminded his colleagues that the Declaration of Independence promised that "all men are created equal," but it wasn't until we started enumerating categories that African-Americans, women, and others were considered part of "all."
• Rep. Earline Parmon told of having to intervene as an administrator when a teacher was letting a kid get beat up to "make a man out of him."
• Rep. Grier Martin argued that the bill has categories because they best protect kids from violence: "Don't fight the culture wars on the backs of kids."

For me, the standout speech of the whole debate came from Rep. Darren Jackson, a freshman legislator who had many of us in the gallery in tears. It's worth taking a minute to read his speech.

Our supporters were also fierce and effective in fending off bad amendment after bad amendment on Tuesday, from Rep. Stam's ridiculous attempt to link homosexuality with pedophilia, masochism, and sadism to Rep. Blust's proposal to have corporal punishment for bullies, as though more violence will make the situation better. Speaker Joe Hackney ruled several proposed amendments out of order, and the House voted down others.

The Votes

Monday night, after 97 minutes of debate, the House finally took the first of two required votes on the bill and it squeaked through 59-57. We were thrilled to have one Republican, Rep. Jamie Boles, and several conservative Democrats among the "ayes" that night. But we left knowing that the anti-gay industry now knew exactly who to bully to peel off votes before the final vote on Tuesday.

Our whole coalition worked frantically to hold our yes votes before the second votes, particularly with the News & Observer's sensationalist headline and misleading article that morning. Speaker Hackney, his Senior Policy Advisor Laura DeVivo, and Rep. Glazier were instrumental in ensuring passage despite the right wing's success in getting Rep. Boles and Rep. Dewey Hill to switch their votes.

The Speaker typically only votes in case of a tie, and Tuesday he voted to give us a one-vote, 58-57 majority. With that one vote, Speaker Hackney ensured the bill went on to Governor Perdue for her signature.

Because it was so close, Rep. Bill Owens, the Rules Chairman, used a rare parliamentary move known as a "clincher" to prevent the vote from coming back up for reconsideration after the right wing had time to twist a few arms.

Lt. Governor Dalton, who championed the bill last session as a state Senator, waited at the Legislative Building for the House session to end so he and the Speaker could ratify the bill with their signatures for presentment to the Governor that night. She now has 10 days to sign the bill.

How We Got Here

When I travel around the state meeting our supporters, people often ask me exactly what it takes for us to pass legislation. The effort to pass this bill was the biggest campaign our organization has ever taken on. We employed a broad range of strategies and tactics to get it done, including:

• Helping form and working with Prevent School Violence NC, a coalition of 28 organizations working to pass the bill. We couldn't have built a majority in the legislature without these strong voices on our side, working to make all children safer. Advocates like the Arc's Julia Leggett, NCAE's Brian Lewis and others have fought hard for the bill over the last three years.
  
• Recruiting and supporting the right sponsors and champions to push the bill. Sen. Boseman and Rep. Glazier both spent political capital to get this bill through, as did the Speaker, the Lt. Governor, and many of the other sponsors in both chambers.
• Organizing Equality NC's largest-ever Day of Action, bringing over 250 people to Raleigh to lobby their legislators in person.
• Getting people around the state to share their stories of how bullying impacted their lives, which we publicized through the Prevent School Violence Blog, the media, blogs like Pam's House Blend, Progressive Pulse and Blue NC, and a video that was sent to every legislator. Kudos to our communications fellow Wes Nemenz for his work on these campaigns and countless other brave North Carolinians like the activist mother-daughter duo of Neena and Kate Mabe for sharing their stories.
• Organizing town hall meetings and round tables across the state, and building up local activists in targeted districts. Our Community Organizer Rebecca Mann and intern Greer Cook did an amazing job.
• Collecting postcards to legislators from over 4,000 people at community events across the state, demonstrating support in nearly every district. Our intern Seth Maid exceeded our expectations in making this effort a success, as did amazing volunteers across the state such as Sue Null, who worked tirelessly to get hundreds of postcards signed in far Western North Carolina.
• Educating legislators and the public about gender identity. Our intern Stephen Wiseman spent the past year researching the needs of our transgender community, identifying activists, and building our Transgender Policy Task Force.
• Mobilizing our base of 10,000 online-activists to email and call their legislators at key points throughout the process. That show of community support made a real difference.
• Hiring Alex Miller as our contract lobbyist, who poured his heart and soul into getting this bill passed. I've spent many days lobbying and strategizing with him, and I know that without his commitment and hard work, it wouldn't have happened.

Running a campaign on this scale, in addition to maintaining work on other priorities, was no easy task. Knowing that we had to expand our budget to run this campaign effectively—despite the recession—gave our Director of Development Kay Flaminio, our board, and me many sleepless nights. But our amazing donors stepped up and made the critically needed financial investment in our work.

Click here to make a contribution to support our continuing work.

Conclusion

We look forward to the day soon when Governor Perdue will sign the School Violence Prevention Act. That will be a cause for celebration, and we'll be hosting events around the state in the coming weeks to come together and cheer our progress and chart our course forward.

During this important week as we celebrate passage of the School Violence Prevention Act please help us celebrate by making a donation in honor of the North Carolina General Assembly’s courageous decision to protect LGBT and other vulnerable kids from bullying. We couldn’t have done this without every one of you and your gift in any amount will help us make history again.  Together we truly are building a great state of equality!

Please click here now to make your gift in honor of the North Carolina General Assembly’s courage and for all the kids whose lives will be saved as a result. If you can, please consider becoming a monthly donor so that we can move forward knowing we have friends who stand with us through good times and bad. Right now, it’s definitely good!

Together, we are making history and we are so proud of all of you. Thank you.