About 500 people turned out Friday for
a town hall meeting on North Carolina's proposed constitutional
amendment banning gay marriage.
Voters will decide on the amendment
during the state's upcoming May 8 primary. If approved, it would
also ban other forms of legal recognition, including civil unions and
possibly domestic partnerships.
Speaking in favor of the amendment was
Turek, whose 143-page anti-gay marriage book Correct, Not
Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone led
him to lose speaking gigs at Bank of America and Cisco Systems.
Scott Sigman, an openly gay Charlotte School of Law professor
specializing in family law, argued against its passage. The debate,
held at McGlohon Theater in Charlotte, was moderated by WFAE's
Julie Rose.
Sigman said the amendment would be bad
for business.
“Businesses hate this kind of
controversy,” he told the audience. “Businesses have to compete
to attract and retain real talent.”
(Related: Bank
of America's Cathy Bessant against North Carolina gay marriage ban.)
In his opening, Turek said gay folks
would benefit from the amendment because it would improve the
economy.
“Natural marriage lowers social costs
to government and thus taxpayers,” Turek said. “One major reason
for our soaring deficit is the breakdown of the two-parent family.
When the family breaks down, government expenditures swell to deal
with increased crime and poverty. … Everyone in society, gay and
straight, benefits immensely from government promotion of natural
marriage.”
Sigman noted that the amendment would
not alter anything in North Carolina because state law already
prohibits members of the same sex from marrying. (A video
compilation of the debate is embedded in the right panel of this
page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)