North Carolina Representatives Pittman, Speciale, and Ford have introduced House Bill 780, the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act,” which essentially declares Obergefell unconstitutional and states that North Carolina’s marriage amendment remains in effect, being supported by the actual reading of the U.S. Constitution. A section of the bill reads:
The General Assembly of the State of North Carolina declares that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision of the United States Supreme Court of 2015 is null and void in the State of North Carolina, and that the State of North Carolina shall henceforth uphold and enforce Section 6 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution, the opinion and objection of the United States Supreme Court notwithstanding.
The Speaker of the NC House, Tim Moore (who also helped push the repeal of HB2), has promised that HB780 will die in the Rules Committee before it even reaches the House floor.
“There are strong constitutional concerns with this legislation given that the U.S. Supreme Court has firmly ruled on the issue, therefore House Bill 780 will be referred to the House Rules Committee and will not be heard,” Moore said in a statement on Wednesday.
A statement was released the same day by Defending Marriage, an organization dedicated to defending the Biblical definition of marriage. The organization expressed strong support for the bill:
How you view bills like HB780 will ultimately be determined by your overall worldview. From a Christian perspective, God created marriage at the beginning as the union of one man and one woman, and no government has the ability to change that. Of course, if you do not hold to a Christian worldview, you probably won’t see any value in adhering to God’s definition of marriage. That is exactly our point. Your worldview affects every aspect of your life, including your positions on political issues. So the marriage question in this state really comes down to a question of what worldview we will use. Given that the Christian worldview is the only worldview which can adequately explain the most obvious truths of human existence, it makes perfect sense that legislators would take God into account when proposing laws. That is exactly what Representatives Pittman, Speciale, Ford, and Brody have done, and we thank them for it.
