Three Democrats Join Iowa House Republicans Voting To Advance Resolution To Amend Constitution To Prohibit Same Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, And Domestic Partnerships

Three Democrats joined Republicans Tuesday to support for a resolution for an amendment to the Iowa constitution to prohibit same sex marriage, the Des Moines Register reporting that in addition to marriage, House Joint Resolution 6 would also render illegal the recognition by the state of civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. Kurt Swaim (Democrat-Bloomfield), one of the three Democrats voting to supporting the resolution, said “I represent a conservative district in the state. There’s no question about that. Sometimes when I represent my district I have to differ from other members of my caucus that come from more liberal parts of the state.” Dan Muhlbauer of Manilla and Brian Quirk of New Hampton were the two other Democrats. The final vote was 62-37. No Republican voted against the resolution. Representative Phyllis Thede (Democrat-Bettendorf) said she had difficulty reaching the decision to vote against the resolution, during debate telling the House “All of you here are in some way initiating hatred. That is not your intention but you’re initiating it. The one thing Jesus Christ has taught me to do is to love. To love all people. It doesn’t matter who they are, we are to love everyone.” Representative Rich Anderson (Republican-Clarinda), who briefly submitted his name for consideration as an Iowa Supreme Court Justice, said that homosexuals do not deserve marriage protection since they cannot foster responsible procreation, saying in the House “The reason we try to protect marriage because we want to protect something called responsible procreation,” said Anderson, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “We want to drive procreation into a stable relationship and procreation only happens between a male and a female. See a male and a female can do something that a homosexual couple cannot: They can create children accidently. That’s the issue. It’s not about love. It’s not about romance. It’s about driving state policy toward responsible procreation.” The resolution now goes to the Senate where Majority Leader Michael Gronstal (Democratic-Council Bluffs) has guaranteed he will block it from a vote. “The vote today by House Republicans was a big step backwards for the constitutional rights of all Iowans,” he said. “I remain committed to protecting the rights of all Iowans and focusing our energy on helping Iowans recover from the national recession.”