Gay Marriage Ban Moves Forward in Iowa
The Advocate
An Iowa
house committee has approved a proposed amendment to the Iowa
constitution banning same-sex marriage. Critics said state law already
bans same-sex marriage and saw the proposed constitutional amendment as
political grandstanding. Supporters said they are worried about
“activist judges” who could potentially strike down the law.
“If you
follow the news at all, it's not unusual for courts to rule those laws
unconstitutional,” Republican representative Danny Carroll, the main
supporter of the measure, said Thursday. “The institution of marriage
is serious.”
[Is
it just me, or is the world turned upside down? If a court might
rule an anti-gay marriage law unconstitutional because it violates our
rights, let's just change the constitution so we don't have any rights
to begin with. Problem solved!]
The
house judiciary committee approved the proposed amendment 13-6,
clearing the way for debate in the full house. Republican leaders said
they have the votes to approve the measure in the house, but its future
in the current legislature is cloudy. The senate is tied at 25-25, and
a similar proposed amendment was rejected last year when Republicans
held firm control of the chamber. Republicans tend to favor the ban on
gay marriage in greater numbers than Democrats.
[Yeah,
Republicans are good at getting their knickers in a twist and avoiding
ACTUAL problems. Distract the constituents with hot-button issues
so they won't notice the state has fallen into the toilet.]
Democratic
representative Vicki Lensing said she was worried the proposed
constitutional amendment would overturn decisions by some local
governments to recognize domestic-partnership arrangements for issues
such as health care. “I don't want to undermine that,” Lensing said.
The outcome of the debate won't be clear for years, regardless of the
outcome of this year's debate.
A
proposed constitutional amendment would have to be approved during the
current two-year general assembly, and an identical measure would have
to be approved by the legislature elected next year. If the proposal
wins that approval, it would then go on the ballot during the general
election of 2008, timing that has heavy political overtones because
that's a presidential election year.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
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