Same-sex marriage ban: Wasting time and money

I'd like to raise a few questions for the Iowa legislators attempting to ban same-sex marriage. Have you paid any attention to what has been taking place in California?

In November 2008, a ballot initiative was passed in California adding the wording “Marriage is defined as one man and one woman” to the California state constitution. This initiative was immediately challenged and has been in federal district court in San Francisco recently.

Why initiate the long process of amending our state constitution (wasting time and money) when this case will have been seen and ruled upon by the U.S. Supreme Court, more than likely rendering the proposed amendment unconstitutional before Iowa voters even see it on the ballot?

Religion played a major role in the passing of Proposition 8, and religious leaders from the Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported, funded and administered protectmarriage.com's “yes on 8” campaign. Several “confidential” church documents were disclosed throughout the trial. One e-mail was quoted as comparing the destructive qualities of same-sex marriage to that of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I would ask our state legislators why they feel the need to allow such religious discrimination to rear its ugly head in our fair state?

I'd ask anyone with any interest in citizens' civil rights to go and research the Proposition 8 trial and be reminded of why the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted. Prop8trialtracker.com is a good place to start.

Jacob Jacobson

Cedar Rapids