RALEIGH, N.C. — As North Carolina lawmakers debated a proposal to prevent charter schools from discriminating against applicants based on sexual orientation, one representative suggested Tuesday that adult sexual attraction to children is a sexual orientation like homosexuality.

The amendment was tabled by Republicans, preventing a vote on it. But during the debate, Republican Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, said pedophilia, masochism and other illegal sexual practices are sexual orientations like homosexuality and he questioned the role adults who are sexually attracted to children might have in schools.

Several lawmakers called those comments offensive. After the House session, Twitter lit up with criticism of Stam’s comments from other lawmakers and left-leaning advocacy groups.

The amendment from Rep. Susan Fisher, D-Buncombe, would “prohibit a charter school from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

In response, Stam handed out a sheet (pictured, right) listing what he said were 30 different sexual orientations. He argued the definition of sexual orientation must be narrowed, otherwise it would include masochism, sadism, pedophilia, along with homosexuality and heterosexuality.

“Sexual orientation is not defined anywhere,” he said. “Many, many sexual orientations are not the ones you want to have teaching kids in schools,” he said. “You may think you know what you mean by this but you don’t.”

Stam asked Fisher to take a question, and she refused. No one else in the chamber would either.

“Well I think the response speaks for itself,” he said.

In rebuttal to Stam, Rep. Marcus Brandon, D-Guilford, argued that pedophilia is not a sexual orientation.

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“It’s offensive. Pedophilia is not a sexuality, it is a disease. It is a problem that has to be addressed outside of this body,” he said. Brandon said the bigger issue in North Carolina is policies that treat some people as second-class citizens. “I don’t think you should be able to do that,” he added.

On its website, the American Psychological Association says sexual orientation “refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes,” and also refers to a person’s sense of identity. It also says, “The American Psychological Association maintains that pedophilia is a mental disorder; that sex between adults and children is always wrong; and that acting on pedophilic impulses is and should be a criminal act.”

An email request and phone call to Stam seeking comment was not immediately returned Tuesday night.

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