North Carolina state Representative
Larry Pittman on Wednesday compared President Abraham Lincoln to
Adolf Hitler in responding to criticism over a bill he backed that
seeks to restore the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
House Bill 780, titled Uphold
Historical Marriage Act, directs the state to defy the Supreme
Court's Obergefell ruling and enforce Amendment One, the 2012
voter-approved constitutional amendment that limits marriage to
heterosexual couples.
Sponsors of the bill include GOP
Representatives Larry Pittman, Michael Speciale, Carl Ford and Mike
Clampitt.
(Related: North
Carolina bill would reinstate gay marriage ban.)
House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican,
said Wednesday that he would block the bill.
“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.
The bill sparked outrage online, with
one Facebook user calling Pittman a “tyrant” and one of the
reasons his son took his life.
“It would not be a reinstatement,”
Pittman replied. “It would be upholding the law of this State in
spite of the opinion of a federal court that had no business
interfering. As for your other comments, look who's talking about
hating. And you know nothing about my son.”
“And if Hitler had won, should the
world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and
personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a
war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional,” he added.