NORTH CAROLINA: Tami Fitzgerald

- Longtime lobbyist for "values" issues

Facts

- Instructs North Carolinians (see 2:40-3:03): "If we truly love our brothers and sisters, we will be seeking their highest and greatest good and what is best for them, and we know that when God's word says homosexuality is an abomination that means it's not the greatest and highest good of our brothers and sisters, so we're seeking their best interest."

- Asks pastors to speak out against gay people: "We are asking pastors to preach about marriage, to give the Biblical admonitions against homosexuality and then to mention to their congregations the marriage campaign and how they can get involved in it."

- How she thinks civil marriage should be defined in NC: "It is quite clear that marriage has been defined in North Carolina law by church doctrine, which has been overwhelmingly determined by Biblical principle, since the majority of churches in North Carolina are Christian. Church doctrine has historically defined marriage as a solemn covenant entered into by only a male and a female, even in non-Christian churches. So, our state statute defining marriage between a “male and a female person” is merely a reflection of the ecclesiastical law."

- Claims: "[T]he battle is not over rights and benefits but over legitimizing homosexual behavior. Deconstructing the traditional meaning of marriage is the primary tactic of gay rights activists to 'mainstream' homosexual lifestyles."

- Warns that "Gay marriage is the beginning of the end for religious freedom" (see 59:26)

- Despite the science on the subject, claims sexual orientation includes "homosexuals, bisexuals, and 28 other 'sexual orientations' ranging from pedophilia to bestiality." 

- On marriage equality: "It’s not about civil rights, and it’s an insult to the civil rights movement to say so"

- Claims "gay adoption deconstructs the definition of family..."

- Claims her pro-equality opposition wants to "destroy all North Carolina families"

- Admits of her resistance to same-sex marriage: "I don't want to sanction the lifestyle or behavior with a government license"