During the South Carolina Senate's
debate Monday on removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol
grounds, state Senator Lee Bright urged lawmakers to instead focus on
the “national sin” of marriage equality.
“Our governor called us in to deal
with the flag that sits out front. Let’s deal with the national sin
that we face today!” Bright said from the floor of the South
Carolina Senate. “We talk about abortion but this gay marriage
thing I believe will be one nation gone under like President Reagan
said. If we’re not one nation under God, we’ll be one nation
gone under.”
“And to sanctify deviant behavior
from five judges, it’s time for us to make our stand, church!”
Bright screamed. “It’s time to make our stand and we’re not
doing it.”
“We can rally together and talk about
a flag all we want but the devil is taking control of this land and
we’re not stopping him!” he
warned.
Bright, a Tea Party favorite and a
state co-chair of Texas Senator Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, has
previously linked the two issues.
“If the recent SCOTUS decisions teach
us anything, it's that states' rights are under attack more than
ever,” he wrote last week on Facebook, a reference to recent
Supreme Court rulings upholding Obamacare and declaring that gay
couples have a constitutional right to marry in all 50 states.
Bright was one of only three senators
who voted to keep the flag.