I have considered such an argument. In my humble opinion, the chances our domestic violence statute will be declared unconstitutional or against NC public policy are remote. It is more likely you will die from being struck by lightening.

There is a difference between a "union" and a "relationship." If you look at the evolution of the relationship standard in 50B, you will see that originally you had to be married or living together as if married. The "as if married" requirement was removed and then the list of persons eligible for relief expanded to persons who had some sort of personal relationship - including roommates and dating partners and parents/ children. The expanded categories took the relationship requirement well outside of the married/ quasi-married arena and recognized that you do not have to be spouses for there to be DV. An amendment which says marriage is the only domestic union that will be recognized will not, in my opinion, have any effect on DV laws which rely not upon a union, but simply upon a relationship/ set of interactions.

I hope that both of you are correct. I do not want the DV statute to be rendered unconstitutional. I particularly like Rebecca's thoughtful analysis. I guess we are all trying to predict what our appellate courts will do with it, and unfortunately those outcomes are hard to predict with certainty!