The late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms was one of the country's most polarizing political figures during 30 years in Congress as one of the most vocal leaders of the Republican Party's conservative Southern core.

A resolution honoring Helms' life showed Tuesday that his memory nearly a year after his death remains polarizing in the state he represented and loved.

More than two dozen state legislators boycotted a vote on a resolution honoring Helms' life that followed speeches praising his integrity, honesty and patriotism. Most holdouts were black Democrats like Sen. Floyd McKissick, who said Helms opposed civil rights for blacks too long and too hard for him to forget.

"I could have never voted in favor of a resolution honoring Sen. Helms because of his divisive history and his anti-civil-rights principals," said McKissick, D-Durham. McKissick said he instead skipped the resolution's debate as a quiet protest.

"I would not want to dishonor his family. I could show respect for my colleagues who felt differently," McKissick said. "I was content to say nothing."

Just one lawmaker who did listen to the plaudits and voted to oppose honoring Helms.

"I'm very much opposed to Sen. Helms and his opposition to civil rights," said Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover, the Legislature's first openly gay member. "I certainly didn't enjoy sitting there listening to things, but I wanted to sit there and vote no because I think, quite frankly, Sen. Helms would have respected that I voted no. I wanted to make sure I stood up to be counted."

Boseman said she remembered Helms for fighting increased funding to fight AIDS, accusing Martin Luther King Jr. of being a communist sympathizer and then opposing a federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader, and saying former President Bill Clinton was so unpopular with service members he would need a bodyguard if he visited North Carolina military bases like Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune.

"That's just offensive to me," Boseman said.

The boycott was a rare gesture of protest for one of the dozens of honorary resolutions the Legislature approves in each two-year session. The Legislature's bill drafting director, Gerry Cohen, said he could remember no similar boycott in his three-decade career. Neither could the Legislature's chief librarian. Lawmakers could not have staged a walkout, even if they would have wanted to make such a statement, because doors to legislative chambers are locked while an honorary resolution is read and debated.

Sixteen out of the state House's 20 black members boycotted the Helms resolution, as did five out of nine black senators. They were joined by a handful of white Democrats and the only American Indian, a Democrat.

The Senate voted 41-1 for the Helms resolution, and the House 98-0. The Senate has 50 members, but one is absent as he recovers from an illness. The House has 118, with two vacant seats.

As Helms' family listened from seats in the legislative galleries overhead, lawmakers of both parties praised Helms for qualities ranging from his legendary constituent service to his advocacy for traditional values in turbulent times.

"He stepped forward when this country needed an anchor," said Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd, R-Gaston, the Legislature's only black Republican.

Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, voted to honor Helms despite being "diametrically opposed" to the GOP icon on nearly every political issue.

"It's about the people he represented. Once he's gone and he's dead, it stops being about Jesse Helms," said Blue, who became the first black speaker of the state House in 1991 and ran unsuccessfully in 2002 for the Democratic nomination to contest for the U.S. Senate seat Helms vacated. "He gave 30 years of hard service in the Senate, plus all the other service he gave. I think you have to acknowledge that."

Helms died on July 4, 2008, at the age of 86.