John Eastman, who last month replaced Maggie Gallagher as board chair of the National Organization of Marriage (NOM), has said gay marriage is “evil.”

During an interview with the National Catholic Register, Eastman, a professor and former dean at Chapman Law School in Southern California, was asked: “Those fighting for traditional marriage can feel beaten down by the culture at large. Do you feel that victory for traditional marriage is possible?”

“Evil will be with us always, and it requires constant vigilance to defeat,” Eastman answered. “I look at it as a litigator and an educator. There will always be threats to institutions grounded in human nature by those who think human nature doesn’t define limits. We need to be involved in the immediate defense of threats against marriage, but also take a long-range view by educating the next generation about the importance of the issues we're confronting.”

Eastman, who last year unsuccessfully ran for state attorney general in California, has previously referred to homosexuality as a form of “barbarism,” according to Equality Matters.