‘This Is What I Believe’: Iowa Republicans Working To Ban Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Iowa since 2009, but nearly two dozen Republican lawmakers are working to change that.

The Iowa State Supreme Court ruling that struck down its same-sex marriage ban prompted Dennis Guth to enter politics and to run for the state senate. 

“My concern for the godless direction of our government has grown over the years,” Guth’s campaign website reads. “In April 2009, when the Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion that same sex couples could not be denied the ‘right’ to obtain a marriage license, I was reminded of a quote from English philosopher Sir Edmund Burke. He said ‘All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ I knew I could no longer do nothing.”

Guth is now State Senator Guth.

In 2013, the farmer, homeschooling parent, and board member of the controversial anti-gay group the Family Leader, announced that gay people are hazardous to his family’s health.

Now, Senator Guth is sponsoring a bill to amend the State of Iowa’s constitution to read, “marriage between one man and one woman [is] the only legal union that is valid or recognized in the state.” Ten other Republican lawmakers have signed up to sponsor the legislation.

Republican State Representative Greg Heartsill has introduced similar legislation in the Iowa House. 

“Guth acknowledged in remarks on the Iowa Senate floor last week that he faces a ‘seemingly impossible task’ in trying to pass the resolution in the Democratic-controlled chamber,” the Des Moines Register reports. “But he added, ‘This is what I believe,’ and he wants his children and grandchildren to embrace those same values.”

There are currently a total of 23 Republicans sponsoring the two bills.

In 2013, Sen. Guth also pushed a similar bill to end same-sex marriage, by explaining the story behind the popular Iowa-based musical, “The Music Man.”

 

Image via Facebook