Since the passing of Amendment One stating that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, the nation has declared North Carolina a “no gay” territory. After the bill passed, North Carolina was trending on Twitter, and the majority of the people tweeting did not have good things to say. Facebook went haywire with statuses about the issue. News channels showed the backlash from the vote. People referred to North Carolinians as backwoods hicks with no knowledge and no desire to move forward. Everyone, it seemed, was anti-North Carolina.

The truth of the matter, though, is that a large part of the state is moving forward, and the ones who voted for the amendment most likely ARE the backwoods hicks who don’t want the sanctity of marriage to be jeopardized by recognizing gay marriage. Or, perhaps, the majority of the people who voted for it are ignorant and had no idea what they were voting for. Those who took the time to actually research the cons of the amendment and figure out just what it means for North Carolina are not to be blamed for the other portion of the state’s stupidity.

North Carolina isn’t the only state to point fingers at, though. To date, 31 states have amendments similar to North Carolina’s Amendment One. Why did North Carolina receive so much attention when the other states did not? It’s hard to say. Maybe because a majority of people are now realizing that homosexuality is actually very common and that everyone has the right to be happy no matter if they choose to love a man or a woman. Maybe it’s because the nation needed someone to blame for America’s general stupidity, so they looked to North Carolina-land of the backwoods hicks.

If the passing of Amendment One had one positive effect, though, it is the fact that it showed just how many people actually support gay marriage. It seemed that the whole country was abuzz with North Carolina hate on May 8. Although the amendment passed, and although America has looked to North Carolina as the Satan of states, the amendment only proves how much progress has been made in the campaign for same-sex marriage. Ten years ago, the amendment would never have undergone so much opposition and caused such a controversy as it did today. Ten years ago, no one would have thought that a United States President would openly support gay marriage. With all of the passion shown over Amendment One, it’s only a matter of time until gay marriage is allowed in North Carolina and, one day, the nation.