Senate Republicans Submit Resolution to Ban Gay Marriage in Iowa

It's been nearly six years since Iowa became a marriage equality state. There have been a few hiccups along the way, but things have largely gone smoothly. But that didn't stop a group of Sentate Republicans from filing a constitutional amendment that would ban the recognition of gay marriage in Iowa:

Late last week, State Senator Dennis Guth, one of the leading social conservatives in the chamber, finally introduced Senate Joint Resolution 6, "specifying marriage between one man and one woman as the only legal union that is valid or recognized in the state." Just eleven of the 24 Republicans are co-sponsoring this amendment. That's a significant drop from two years ago, when three-quarters of the Iowa Senate GOP caucus co-sponsored the marriage amendment.

Those sponsoring SJR6 include Bill Anderson, Jerry Behn, Rick Bertrand, Jake Chapman, Randy Feenstra, Dennis Guth, David Johnson, Tim Kraayerbrink, Ken Rosenboom, Mark Segebart, and Jason Schultz.

It's worth noting that the Democratic Party controls Iowa's Senate and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has consistently prevented all past efforts to bring constitutional amendments restricting marriage to a vote.