The discussion of rights for gay couples who want to get married has been the focus for the past week in North Carolina.

On Tuesday, the marriage amendment passed its first hurdle with a landslide 61-39 victory. Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama announced that he believed that same-sex couples should have the right to wed.

Now, officials for both the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are talking about how to handle the health benefits for employees in same-sex relationships.

The county previously passed a measure to allow them certain rights to benefits for employees of the city and county.

Already, Commissioner Bill James has sent an email asking that the county “get rid” of those benefits, saying they are illegal since the state defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. The amendment passed Tuesday also only recognizes that relationship as the only legal domestic partnership.

However, some gay activists will be the first to tell people that more companies, cities and counties are offering same-sex benefits. The ones that don’t may have a hard time keeping good employees, they argue.

“A lot of local governments actually do give a damn about their gay and lesbian community,” said one activist.

That’s why, when City Manager Curt Walton unveiled his spending plan Wednesday, he included $75,000 for same-sex benefits for city workers.

Now that Amendment One passed, council members are asking if the city can legally offer those benefits.

“I want to make sure that if we make a decision, that we wouldn’t be creating additional problems for the city,” said Councilmember Michael Barnes.

Mayor Anthony Foxx assumed a lot of governments are wondering the same thing.

“I think a lot of people, a lot of smart people, are going to be trying to figure out what the impact is on municipalities and, right now, we just don’t know,” he said.

Since the amendment and the benefits would go into effect on the same day -- Jan. 1, 2013 -- cities and counties have time to sort it out.

City attorney Bob Hagemann wants what he calls “legal clarity.”

“How much clarity we’re going to have before it actually takes effect is hard to predict, but we’ll be doing our best job,” he said.

He said he plans to talk to other governments, including Mecklenburg County. He said he may seek the help of the attorney general as well.

A spokesman with the Attorney General’s Office said the office does not have a formal opinion on the matter.

Meanwhile, James sent an email early Wednesday morning to the county manager and the entire board of commissioners asking that rights extended to same-sex couples be rescinded.

“Now that Amendment One has passed, it obviously is illegal to offer this benefit as there is now only one ‘domestic legal union’ recognized in the state,” his email read.

Commissioners Jim Pendergraph and Karen Bentley both said they had not seen the email and were not prepared to comment on it.

James, however, spoke openly about the matter in a phone interview.

“As to whether any of the other commissioners feel queasy about discussing it, well, that’s their problem. They’re responsible for upholding the law. I’m responsible for upholding the law, and if it’s illegal, you can’t do it,” he said.

It is possible that commissioners might shy away from talking about the benefits funding until the county manager and county attorney weigh in on the matter.

The county attorney said Wednesday evening that he does not have an opinion at this point. He said research was still being done and at some point, there will be an opinion shared with the board.