Iowa Republicans Propose Ending Same-Sex Marriage Recognition
Laurel Duggan on March 1, 2023
Republican Iowa legislators introduced a measure Tuesday that seeks to end state recognition of same-sex marriages through an amendment to the state constitution.
The amendment would define marriage as a union between a biologically male and female person. The Supreme Court required states to recognize same-sex marriages in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, and President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in December, requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages; Iowa’s amendment would run afoul of federal law, which takes precedent over state law.
“In accordance with the laws of nature and nature’s God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female,” the proposal reads.
Republican Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman told NBC News it would take several years to get the amendment passed.
Democratic Iowa state Rep. Sami Scheetz came out against the measure.
“No, @IowaGOP, we will not be going back to the days when committed, loving same-sex couples don’t have the same right to marriage equality as everyone else,” he wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “This kind of disgusting hatred and backwards thinking has no place in Iowa. And I’ll fight it every single day.”
Republicans also proposed a joint resolution Tuesday allowing Iowa residents to not acknowledge same-sex marriages. The proposal states that the Respect for Marriage Act violates the Constitution by encroaching on powers granted to states and calls for that law to be nullified in Iowa.
The bill’s eight sponsors did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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