North Carolina State Rep. Larry Pittman


Disappointed that HB 2 has been repealed (not really) and the NCAA is no longer boycotting their state, and worried that they might lose the title of biggest state legislator assholes in the country (I mean, we do have Dan Patrick and his Tea Baggers here in Texas), North Carolina Republican have introduced a bill that would outlaw same-sex marriage in North Carolina and refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Via HB 780, the state would declare that the federal government is not legally authorized to regulate marriage, according to WRAL.com. That would leave the state’s 2012 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in effect.
Apparently, the Supreme Court severely overstepped its bounds with the Obergefell marriage equality ruling in June 2015. But no worries, the North Carolina GOP is here to set them straight. North Carolina doesn’t have to pay any attention to that silly SCOTUS ruling on marriage because that 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.”
(“In all societies throughout prior history”? I think they forgot to read some of their history books.)
The bill’s primary sponsor is Rep. Larry Pittman, Christian minister from Cabarrus who refused to comment on the bill he introduced. Rep. Michael Speciale from Craven is the second sponsor. He first tried to deny that SB 780 would outlaw marriage equality, then said  that since the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage remains in place lawmakers should “do something about it.”
Speciale then refused to say what that something might be and refused an interview request because reporters misrepresented his positions in other stories.
Pittman and Speciale have filed similarly ridiculous bills in previous legislative sessions, claiming that the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives the state authority to refuse “to recognize or comply with federal laws or decisions state leaders deem excessive or unconstitutional,” WRAL noted.
There are at least a few voices of reason in North Carolina. Sarah Gillooly, policy director for the North Carolina ACLU, called SB 780 a “half-baked legal theor[y],” and pointed out that marriage equality is “the law of the land in North Carolina and the entire nation.”
“This bill is absurd, unconstitutional and further proof that some North Carolina legislators remain committed to discriminating against LGBT people and their families,” Gillooly said in a statement. “North Carolina lawmakers cannot defy the U.S. Supreme Court based on their extreme personal views.”