North Carolina State Senator James
Forrester, the primary sponsor of a proposed constitutional amendment
that would ban gay marriage, received a standing ovation during a
town hall meeting where he said gay people are “unhealthy.”
Forrester and four additional
Republican lawmakers – Senator Kathy Harrington and Reps. Kelly
Hastings, John Torbett and Bill Current – discussed the proposed
legislation during a Thursday meeting at Restoring Hope Foursquare
Church in Dallas.
Lawmakers will return to Raleigh on
Monday to begin a special session on constitutional amendments which
will consider whether to send the marriage amendment to voters in
2012. Forrester's amendment would prohibit any legal recognition for
gay couples, including marriage, civil unions and domestic
partnerships.
“At least 20 years is taken off a
homosexual's life, if they practice homosexuality, due to the
increased death rate from AIDS, and hepatitis, and all of the other
related factors to that. That doesn't seem to discourage them from
practicing this unhealthy lifestyle.”
“I'm trying to talk with them. And
I've got a few homosexual patients, and I treat them just the same as
anybody else. I love them. Perhaps even more, because I know
they're going to die at least 20 years earlier.”
“We need to reach out to them and try
to get them to change their lifestyle back to the normal lifestyle
which we can accept.”
“It's a new day in Raleigh. This
could really make a mark on society as we know it,” Forrester said.
(The audio is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
The 74-year-old Forrester added that he
believes the amendment will pass.
According to the Gaston
Gazette, the 60-member audience overwhelmingly approved of
the lawmaker's message, giving Forrester a standing ovation at one
point.
(Related: Majority
of North Carolina voters oppose gay marriage ban amendment.)