North Carolina just proposed a bill to ban same-sex marriage in the state. This came after the state proposed the controversial transgender bathroom bill that resulted to the economic turmoil in the area due to advertisers, businesses and artists who decided to not expand in North Carolina and withdraw their scheduled performances.
The Supreme Court decided in 2015 that same-sex marriage was a fundamental right but North Carolina believed they could go against the ruling. Three Republican state legislators introduced the bill to ban people of the same sex to marry each other in the state.
They called the bill Uphold Historical Marriage Act and noted that the Supreme Court's decision went against the decree of the Almighty God. They also quoted from the bible the following passage, "A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh," Los Angeles Times reported.
Even though three Republican state legislators proposed the anti-same-sex marriage bill, North Carolina's House Speaker, Tim Moore, also a Republican, said they will not hear the bill this session. He pointed out that there will be concerns if they hear the bill since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, The Washington Post shared. Reports claimed the federal law is deemed as the supreme law of the land.
After North Carolina legislators proposed the bill, the state's Governor Roy Cooper slammed it on Twitter. He wrote that the bill was wrong and that there should be more laws protecting the LGBT community.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also slammed the bill. They directed the tweet to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and asked the association about their claim that North Carolina was not discriminatory towards the LGBT community. NCAA threatened to pull out of the state for their championship games and days later, lawmakers made changes to the transgender bathroom bill.
This was not the first state that tried to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court ruling over same-sex marriage. Arkansas lawmakers proposed a bill to ban it in the state. They did not get support from the other lawmakers so they dropped the bill.
