Vote sets up debate on same-sex marriage ban

DES MOINES - A referendum on a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage is on its way to debate by the Iowa House.

“It's time for the public debate to begin in earnest,” Rep. Kurt Swaim, D-Bloomfield, told the House Judiciary Committee before it voted 13-8 Monday to send a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment that would declare “marriage between one man and one woman shall be the only legal union valid or recognized in this state” to the full House.

Passage is nearly certain when the House takes up House Joint Resolution 6 - probably next week. But that's likely where the march to the ballot box will end. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, has promised not to take up the measure, saying it would write discrimination into the Iowa Constitution.

Since the 2009 Varnum v. Brien decision by the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage, “the factions have talked at each other,” Swaim said. “It's time, past time, to talk to each other.”

Swaim said Iowans are “fair, honest and smart” and should be the ultimate arbiters of their constitution.

Opponents of the measure argued that the state's highest court - the “guardian of the constitution,” according to Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City - not the ballot box, is the proper place to resolve the issue.

The resolution would ask voters to deny a subset of Iowa couples a host of rights, including hospital visitations and a role in making decisions about medical care, businesses and property, Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said.

As long as same-sex couples make the same commitment as male-female couples, they should not be treated differently, she said.

“The state should not tell us who we can and cannot marry,” added Lensing. Denying one group the right to marry, she said, is a “violation of human dignity.”

HJR6 sponsor Rep. Dwayne Alons, R-Hull, said it's up to Iowans to settle the issue because the courts and Legislature have failed.

Despite the court's decision, he said, the definition of marriage - between one man and one woman - remains a part of the Iowa Code. The Legislature had a chance to remove that last year when Democrats controlled the House and Senate as well as the Governor's Office.

“Your side failed. You didn't want to touch it,” Alons said.

A subcommittee meeting earlier Monday attracted more than 200 people. Supporters of HJR6 there asserted their right to vote on the issue. Opponents called for tolerance and fairness, and said marriage should be personal, not political.