Gingrich calls on North Carolina to ban same sex marriage

In a video uploaded to YouTube on Monday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called on the people of North Carolina to vote for a ballot measure that would prohibit same sex marriage.

"Marriage between a man and a woman is at the heart of our civilization," he said. "It's a belief that is now under attack, yet it's at the very core of defining who we are. That's why I urge you to vote for the initiative right here in North Carolina. The chance to vote for a referendum to declare clearly that marriage is between a man and a woman."

"This is part of the same great process this year that's involved with President Obama, and that's involved with the whole danger of what's happening to our basic beliefs," Gingrich continued. "There's an effort by radicals at every level to change who we are, to change what America is and to change for our children into a future that I think will be much worse."

North Carolina law already restricts marriage to opposite sex couples, but an amendment to the state's constitution would protect the law from legal challenges.

Opponents of the proposed amendment have said that it could render domestic violence laws invalid for unmarried couples and disrupt child custody cases because it states that marriage between a man and women is the "only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized."

After Ohio passed a similar marriage amendment, some judges dropped domestic violence charges in cases involving unmarried couples. The Ohio Supreme Court later ruled in 2007 that the marriage amendment did not invalidate domestic violence laws for unmarried men and women.

North Carolina voters will decide whether or not to ratify the amendment on May 8.

In the video, Gingrich also said that the right to bear arms was a human right.