Sioux City’s Gay Marriage Opponents Give “Iowa Stubborn” A Whole New Meaning

Less than a week after Iowa’s Supreme Court met to hear arguments in Varnum vs. Brien, the case which will determine if gay marriage is legal and/or constitutional in Iowa, the city council in Sioux City, Iowa, met to discuss a proposal that would ban same-sex marriage. Does Sioux City’s city council really have nothing else to do? I hope that’s the case, because, regardless of their vote, the state supreme court’s ruling will supercede the Sioux City city council’s. Besides, “cities lack authority over marriage“. So, a big waste of time, brought forth by Councilman Brent Hoffman. 

The Iowa Independent writes,

“It’s just a sad day for the city. This resolution has nothing to do with the city’s business, and it’s a divisive issue,” [Councilman Jim Rixner] said. “The whole resolution is overreaching.”

And not just over-reaching. The ACLU had this to say:

“The resolution contains language stating that it is about ‘respect [for] the rule of law and majority opinion,’” Stone said. “Such rhetoric was commonly used by the cowardly defenders of prejudice and bigotry in the 1950s and 60s, and its use in this context is unfortunate. History reveals that many laws in American history were immoral despite their support by majority opinion, and Iowa’s so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ is among them.”

Even worse, the council met, and after a few minutes, realizing the emotional and legal tsunami they had created, decided to table the proposal, which didn’t make the large crowd of citizens who were attending the meeting very happy either.

MetroWeekly reports:

“”You can’t un-ring the bell and once you have a room full people that have come down to speak on a topic, I think it is then dismissive of their input to table the motion when clearly people were there to talk about it and I think they should have been heard,” said Nelson.”

Connie Nelson, a Sioux Cityan who was disappointed that the City Council decided to table a motion to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. It is reported that a public hearing was called and dozens packed in to share their feelings on the measure. However, council members quickly realized that they had not considered the scope of their anti-gay intentions, the larger legal implications and the possibilities of lawsuits. The Iowa Supreme Court is to rule on the legality of same-sex marriage soon. (KCAU-TV)”

Perhaps the Sioux City city council should meet and vote to change the phrase “Iowa stubborn” to “Councilman Brent Hoffman stubborn.”

 

Read more about gay marriage in Iowa.