North Carolina House Majority Leader
Paul “Skip” Stam on Tuesday said a proposed gay marriage ban
would protect children.
The 61-year-old Stam made his remarks
during a noontime press conference on a proposed constitutional
amendment that would ban gay marriage in the state. Lawmakers will
return to Raleigh on September 12 to begin a special session on
constitutional amendments which will consider whether to send three
issues, including the marriage amendment, to the ballot box in 2012.
Portions of the conference were
captured on video and posted on YouTube by the Raleigh-based
conservative group Civitas
Institute. Not posted were Stam's assertions that a gay marriage
ban would protect children and that any argument in favor of gay
marriage would
support incest and polygamy.
When a reporter asked why the amendment
was necessary, Stam answered: “It protects the children of the next
generation. We see in countries around the world where they
legitimize same-sex marriage that marriage itself is depreciated. I
think you'll find that the impetus for same-sex marriage is not for
same-sex people to get married – very, very few of them do –
rather it is to delegitimize marriage as an institution, as a whole.
That will affect your children and grandchildren, because all social
science research demonstrates that's the best way for children to be
raised. So you have to look to the future to see the true advantages
of this.”
Standing besides Stam at the news
conference was House Speaker Pro Tempore Dale Folwell.
Folwell and Stam, both Republicans,
also denied that the Senate's version of the measure, which
explicitly bans other unions in addition to marriage, would outlaw
domestic partner benefits currently offered by private sector
employers.