Yesterday, May 8, North Carolina government officials passed Amendment One, which put a constitutional ban on gay marriage within the Southern state. Former ‘American Idol‘ star Clay Aiken, who is an openly gay native of North Carolina, spoke to CNN about his opinions on Amendment One and what it means for homosexual and heterosexual residents of North Carolina.

“The thing that affects everyone, whether it’s same-sex couples or opposite-sex couples who have children, is unless they are married opposite-sex couples who are living together or who have children run the risk of losing health insurance for the child if they are not married,” Aiken told CNN during a video interview.

“The thing that is really sort of deceptive about this amendment and the way that it’s written is that is restricts domestic partnerships, it restricts civil unions for both straight and gay couples,” he said went on. “All the major polls in North Carolina show that there’s widespread support for domestic partnerships … There’s a poll that was just in the Raleigh News and Observer just this morning and yesterday that — despite the fact that those polls are showing that people are supporting that amendment — [asks] if they know what it does, and the majority of people are not aware of the fact that it restricts domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, as well.”

According to MTV, North Carolina is the 31st state in the U.S. that voted favorably for amendements banning legal unions between gay couples. Amendment One states that, “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state,” and it was passed in North Carolina with a 61-39 percent margin.

Aiken also gave some history behind the state, pointing out that North Carolina was the last of the Southern states to secede from the Union during the Civil War era. “North Carolina … has a history of being a state that takes deliberate steps,” he said. “In general, we have always been a state that takes responsible steps and this is an example, the only example in my lifetime, of the state taking a very irresponsible step.”

Same-sex marriage has already been banned in North Carolina, so Aiken (who actually comes from a very conservative family) also went on to talk about how “redundant” the law is. Check out what else he has to say about Amendment One in North Carolina below.

Watch Clay Aiken Discuss Amendment One

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