Huge Effort Mobilizes Against N.C.'s Antigay Initiative

Fund-raising efforts aimed at defeating North Carolina's antigay Amendment One have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, but much more is needed to pay for TV advertisements.

The pro-equality group Protect All NC Families is launching several efforts, including the "blogswarm money bomb," focused on bloggers and activists. The "money bomb" has raised tens of thousands in just two days, reports North Carolina blogger Pam Spaulding, of Pam's House Blend. As of Tuesday afternoon, the "money bomb" had raised over $23,000, with a goal of bringing in $25,000 to defeat Amendment One, which would constitutionally ban marriage equality in the Tar Heel State.

A total of $150,000 has rolled in to Protect All NC Families over the past two days, Spaulding reports. The group wants to raise a total of $2,000,000 and place ads against Amendment One in North Carolina's largest media markets, she writes.

"Protect All NC Families has already raised more than $950,000 in financial contributions, the vast majority from thousands of individual North Carolina donors, as well as key coalition members the Human Rights Campaign, Replacements, Ltd, Self-Help, Equality NC, the ACLU and others," according to a release from the organization. "The campaign launched this week's fund-raising campaign, also known as a 'money bomb,' as a primarily online effort in order to bring a national focus to Protect All NC Families and their efforts to defeat Amendment One. The money bomb will encompass a major social media fund-raising push, state and national blogger outreach, the coalition campaign's over 100 partner organizations and others to build on the campaign's momentum."