(RALEIGH) -- The North Carolina House approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and any recognition of civil unions.

Lawmakers voted 75-42 in favor of the measure after more than three hours of debate. Ten House Democrats joined most Republicans to give bill supporters the needed three-fifths majority of 72 votes. Republican Reps. Glen Bradley and Chuck McGrady did not cast a vote on the bill’s final reading.

Bill supporters argued that voters should decide if the state’s constitution needs to define marriage as between one man and one woman. North Carolina is currently the only state in the Southeast without a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, said the proposed amendment would ensure that a 1996 law banning gay marriage isn’t overturned due to judicial activism. “Court decisions and legislative decisions in other states have forced us to this,” Stam added.

Republicans modified the bill to put the referendum on the ballot during the 2012 primary in order to secure key votes from some conservative Democrats. Rep. Garland Pierce, D-Scotland, said that move helped secure his support. “It takes a little bit of the political spin out of it when people said that it would have an advantage for Republicans in the fall.”

Opponents countered that the constitutional change sends a message of discrimination to gay and lesbian couples. Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said the amendment would create one of the most extreme and intrusive laws in the nation. He also compared the issue to the struggle for civil rights.

“What this doctrine is creating is tolerance, not acceptance and it is not better than separate but equal,” said Glazier.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, argued that lawmakers are setting a bad precedent by letting the majority determine the rights of minority populations. Harrison even referenced her sister’s same-sex relationship with a long-time partner during an emotional floor speech.

“I don’t know why anyone in this chamber has the right to tell her she cannot marry the love of her life,” Harrison concluded.

Area clergy and other supporters rallied outside the General Assembly to encourage lawmakers to push for the constitutional amendment. Rev. Patrick Wooden of the Upper Room Church of God said support for the idea is widespread.

“It’s not about denying homosexuals the ability to commit to one another,” said Patty Fitzgerald of the NC Values Coalition. “They can already do that, but do they deserve government backing?”

The measure now heads to the Senate, where Republican leaders say they have enough votes to pass it. But gay rights activists vowed to continue fighting the marriage amendment.

“They are trying to throw up a big brick wall to stop progress, to stop attitudes changing and to stop the tide of history,” Alex Miller, interim director of Equality NC, said at a vigil outside the Legislative Building. “We may not be able to wash over that wall this time, but it will happen.”