According to the Charlotte Business Journal, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers came out strongly Friday against a proposed North Carolina constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

“I believe that when you pass an amendment like that, you are sending a message to the world about what kind of community this is — not inclusive,” he told a crowd of nearly 400 at the Hood Hargett Breakfast at Carmel Country Club. “We don’t have equal standards for people with a different point of view.”

Rogers emphasized he was expressing a personal opinion, not a corporate one. But he did not dodge the question and he was emphatic.

“I’m old fashioned. I believe we’re all the children of God, and we shouldn’t have special rules for some and not for others,” he said.