• Civil marriage equality in effect at the state level since October 2014. (Same-sex couples may legally marry.)

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• In 2008, the North Carolina General Assembly added a provision to the Patients’ Bill of Rights affording hospital visitation rights to same-sex couples via a "designated visitor" statute.
• In 2012, by passing Amendment 1, North Carolina became the 30th state, and the last of the former Confederate states, to adopt a constitutional amendment defining marriage to exclude same-sex couples.
• The film One: A Story of Love and Equality chronicles the passionate fight against Amendment 1 and features MEUSA's Program Manager Tracy Hollister. 
• Until 10 October 2014, marriage equality was prohibited by a 1996 statute, and by a 2012 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions per North Carolina Amendment 1.