It took more than a week before South Carolina Senator Lee Bright could express his disappointment with the US Supreme Court's ruling allowing gay marriage in all 50 American states.
On Monday, he finally found the opportunity to air his opposition to same-sex marriage during the opening of the Senate debate over an entirely different topic: the removal of Confederate flags from statehouse grounds.
Bright expressed his disgust when even the White House joined in to celebrate the Supreme Court's landmark decision to invalidate all gay marriage bans throughout the US.
"I heard our President sing a religious hymn (at the Charleston church funeral), and then on Friday night, I watched the White House (be) lit up in the abomination colours," Bright said.
"It is time for the church to rise up. It's time for the state of Carolina to rise up... This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and they are under assault by men in black robes who are not elected by you," he said.
The Republican senator urged fellow lawmakers to make a stand and find a way to sanction gay marriages in US.
He said there are bigger problems in the nation than the issue of whether the Senate should allow the Confederate flag to continue being raised in front of statehouses.
"I believe that Christ teaches us to love the homosexual, but He also teaches us to stand in the gap against sin... I know that we need to respect our brother and love our brother, but we cannot respect this sin in the state of South Carolina, so I'm asking you ... to deal with same-sex marriage," he said, according to Christian News.
"We can rally together and talk about a flag all we want, but the devil is taking control of this land and we're not stopping him. If the state's got to get out of the marriage business, then let's out of the business of marriage because we cannot succumb to what's been done to the future of this nation," he said.
The Southern Baptist lawmaker also urged his colleagues to find ways to protect Christians from punishment if the state is not willing to push back against the federal government.
After his rant, Bright voted against removing the Confederate flag from the capitol, finding himself in the minority.
The measure to remove it passed by a 37-to-3 vote.
