CHAPEL HILL — Twenty UNC law students greeted one of the leading architects of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage with chants of “No on one -- No on hate” at a debate Wednesday.

A standing-room only crowd was expected at a forum on the amendment hosted by the UNC Law School that features Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam, a top GOP lawmaker who helped craft the amendment, and Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat.

Jackie Azis, a third-year law student, organized the protest to make sure Stam knew that the law students didn’t support the Republican legislature’s efforts to define marriage and ban domestic partnerships in the state Constitution.

“Minority rights are up to a vote and we don’t think that the majority has the right to define the minority’s rights,” she said.

Sophie Suberman, a 25-year-old law student, said the state’s economy is too fragile to spend time on this “superfluous issue,” especially considering that same-sex marriage already is illegal under state law.

“We are the people who are about to be the legislature and the government,” she said. “We are speaking out now before it’s something we have to go back and fix.”

The protest – in true college style – featured Suberman’s iPhone blasting an Internet radio station. Stam walked through the chanting students escorted by a law enforcement officer.