Iowa House Republicans Sponsor Bill to Constitutionally Invalidate the State's Gay Marriages

It has been nearly four years since the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the state's unconstitutional DOMA law and paved the way for equal rights and responsibilities for its gay and lesbian citizens. Since then, none of the problems that people fret about have happened. Most churches still preach against us. No pastor has been forced to wed us and no pastor has been jailed for preaching against homosexuality. Kids are not being shown gay pornography (or any pornography, for that matter). The sky is still up and the ground is still down.

Our state has seen increased incidents of new marriages. Our divorce rate is down. Polls show that most Iowans have been impacted either positively or neutrally since same-sex marriage became equal. (And I'm still wishing that pollsters would ask "How is that?" when someone says that same-sex marriage has been a negative experience for them.)

All that is to say that nothing really has changed -- especially for the negative -- since the Varnum V. Brien case back in Spring 2009 -- except that Iowa's gay and lesbian couples can now share equal marriage rights and responsibilities with our heterosexual neighbors.

Which is why it is totally disappointing that we have to go through another effort by House Republicans to amend Iowa's constitution to legally invalidate Iowa's gay and lesbian families. This is the news from Donna Red Wing of One Iowa:

Today, a group of 35 Iowa Republican House members filed a bill that would exclude gay and lesbian couples from civil marriage.

I have to ask this group of 35 if they are thinking about the approximately 6,000 couples who married after the Varnum ruling? Are they thinking about those loving and committed couples and their families' future in Iowa? I have to ask, do you not represent every Iowan in your district?

What message is sent when an elected official publicly declares in his or her sponsorship of a shameful and harmful bill that some people are more equal than others in Iowa simply because of who they are and the person they love?

I’d like to ask this elected official what his or her goal is? Do they understand how out of step they are? Do they understand that we are talking about people, not politics?

This bill should not pass the House and will certainly not pass the Iowa Senate. So, why are these 35 members so invested in excluding some Iowans from marriage?

It’s important to take a moment to applaud the 18 House Republicans and the 47 House Democrats who declined to sign onto this harmful resolution. Their leadership is exemplary.

Red Wing goes on to note that Greg Baker of The FAMiLY Leader complained as recently at yesterday about how difficult it was for them to get 35 House members to co-sponsor this Iowa Marriage Amendment.

She notes that the bill will be heard by the House Judiciary Committee before being forwarded to the House itself.