DES MOINES, IOWA, January 27, 2011 (Lifesitenews.com) – Efforts by Iowa Republicans to add an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex “marriage” came to a stand still this morning in the Iowa Senate.
The amendment, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, would undo a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009 declaring a state law prohibiting homosexual “marriage” to be in violation of the Iowa State Constitution.
Senate President Jack Kibbie blocked debate on the resolution, ruling that it was ineligible for immediate Senate consideration. The ruling was upheld in a 26-24 party line vote, with all 26 Senate Democrats voting against a Republican appeal of the ruling.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, in a statement released this morning, charged Senate Republicans with attempting to “take away the constitutional rights of Iowans.”
If passed by the legislature, the amendment would have to be approved by Iowa voters either on the 2014 ballot, or by special election, before going into effect.
“By all measures, the people of Iowa strongly support one man one woman marriage,” Chuck Hurley, President of the Iowa Family Policy Center, told LifeSiteNews in an interview, “Gronstal has done everything in his power to deny an opportunity for a recorded vote in the Senate.”
Hurley said that according to 2008 public records, Gronstal has accepted “well in excess of a million dollars” from out-of-state homosexual activists.
In a second attempt to bring the resolution to a vote, a discharge petition will be circulated in the Senate to bring the marriage amendment out of committee.