North Carolina legislators have proposed an anti-same-sex marriage bill, calling on the state to ignore the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage across the country.
The Uphold Historical Marriage Act, or House Bill 780, was filed Tuesday by four conservative Republican legislators — Reps. Larry Pittman, Michael Speciale, Carl Ford, and Mike Clampitt — and states the U.S. Constitution's states-rights amendment allows North Carolina to decide for itself what its marriage laws should be.
The bill opposing same-sex marriage says the Supreme Court ruling "exceeds the authority of the court relative to the decree of Almighty God that ‘a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh' (Genesis 2:24, ESV) and abrogates the clear meaning and understanding of marriage in all societies throughout prior history."
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper criticized the bill on Twitter.
The new bill against same-sex marriage comes after North Carolina's Republican-led House repealed controversial House Bill 2, commonly called the "bathroom bill," that was targeted against transgender people and the LGBTQ community.
House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, excluded gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections, and required transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings.
The compromise, orchestrated by Cooper and Republican lawmakers, still prevents local governments and the state-run colleges and universities from regulating access to multiple-occupancy restrooms and locker rooms.
A report last month by The Associated Press estimated that House Bill 2 would cost North Carolina more than $3.7 billion in lost revenue over the next decade if it remained in place.