Iowa Lawmakers Reject Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Resolutions

: Image by lez get real via Flickr

2/10/10-by Paula Brooks
Iowa Republican lawmakers failed yesterday in both the Iowa House and Senate, to gain sufficient support to bring a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in that state to the floor of the Iowa legislature.

In order to become a constitutional amendment in Iowa, a bill must pass two General Assemblies and then be put on the ballot for a public vote, and yesterday’s effort to pull the resolutions out of the committees and place them on the debate calendar were aimed to beat a legislative deadline to get the bills on the floor this week.

Yesterdays procedural move to pull a bill out of committee in the House required a 51-vote majority, but that effort failed in a 45-54 vote, mostly along party lines, while no vote was taken on a similar Senate Resolution.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned the state Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as between one man and one woman last year, ruling that denying marriage rights to gay couples was unconstitutional. Right after that ruling, Iowa Republicans made several attempts to bring a similar measure to the floor, but yesterdays effort marked the first formal attempt to overturn the Court’s ruling of the in this years legislative session.

The failure of this week’s procedural maneuvering means that voters will likely not see the issue on a ballot until 2014 at the earliest.

An Iowa Poll taken earlier this month showed that 62 percent of Iowans think the issue of same-sex marriage doesn’t deserve lawmakers’ time, rating below texting while driving, puppy mill legislation, gun control, payday loans and gambling.