Iowa clergy support marriage equality for same-sex couples

DES MOINES – An alliance of more than 160 Iowa clergy members sent state lawmakers a letter Tuesday supporting civil marriage equality for same-sex couples and opposing efforts to undo it.

Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund, said the supporting clergy were from urban and rural areas of Iowa and represented a broad array of leadership levels and religions – including Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist.

The letter voiced public support of civil marriage for couples of the same gender and stated opposition “to any current or future legislation diminishing the marriage rights rightfully given by Iowa Supreme Court.”

The signing clergy members said they were compelled by their “deepest beliefs” to stand for fairness and to “oppose the use of sacred texts and religious traditions to deny equal protection and responsibility under the law for gay and lesbian couples.”

“Our traditions and practices as religious entities should never be used to exclude equal protection from anyone,” said Rev. Matt Mardis-LeCroy, minister at Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines and chairman of the alliance's board. He applauded the state court for “upholding the rights of an unpopular minority” and urged the Legislature to accept that decision, respect Iowa's diversity and “resist attempts to impose any one religious perspective by force of law.”

The alliance letter stated that a marriage based in love and commitment must be honored and supported and that marriage equality was a means to strengthen families in a manner “especially beneficial to children who are raised by gay and lesbian couples.”

The statement by the non-partisan alliance founded in 1996 to work to protect faith and freedom in Iowa was in direct contradiction to efforts by faith-based, family-based and political groups that have decried the April 2009 Supreme Court decision that ruled a 1998 state law defining marriage as only between one man and one woman as unconstitutional.

Bryan English, director of public relations & outreach for Iowa Family Policy Center Action, said it was interesting to him that the letter distributed by the Interfaith Alliance made no reference to biblical scripture in supporting the position.

“IFPC Action is an expressly Christian organization. We look to the Bible for insight into right and wrong. Through the Bible, God tells us what is true and what is not,” English said in a statement.

“Having read the Bible from cover to cover, on several occasions, I have found absolutely no justification for the position of the Interfaith Alliance,” he added. “The Interfaith Alliance is entitled to their opinion, but in the obvious absence of biblical support for that position, they ought not pretend that it is in any way a Christian perspective.”