We have a situation and we need to get out in front of this and get loud.
You're all aware that the Supreme Court in Iowa essentially legalized gay marriage last week (let's take a moment to jump up and down and cheer wildly!!). Yippie!!! But now we have to get down to work. The wingnuts are pissed about this and they are flooding the Governor's office and the offices of the Speaker and Senate Majority leader with calls and emails. They want a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in 2010 and they aren't taking no for an answer. We need to be loud (very very loud) in our support of gay marriage in Iowa. We need to sustain that support and stay vocal about it because these people will NOT give up. We need to show the House Speaker and the Senate Majority leaders that we support their decision to prevent votes on this in the House and Senate this year and we need to make sure the Governor knows that he legally can't do anything about this decision and that he should support gay marriage.
If you live in Iowa, I need you to make some phone calls AND write some emails. If you know people who live in Iowa, I need you to call/email those people and get THEM to make some calls and write some emails. Let's stay on top of this and show how much we support gay marriage!
Great background by desmoinesdem on the rules for Constitutional Amendments here in Iowa. I hope she doesn't mind me quoting liberally from her because her analysis is dead on:
The Republican Party of Iowa will surely be leading a charge to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, but Iowa is not California. It's a lot harder to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot here. An amendment banning gay marriage would need to be approved by two consecutive legislative sessions (the 2009/2010 session and the 2011/2012 session) before going to the public in a general-election referendum. So, the earliest Iowa voters would be able to weigh in on this issue would be in November 2011.
I heard on Iowa Public Radio this morning that legislative leaders say there is no time to consider an amendment on marriage this year. The legislative session is scheduled to end within a couple of weeks, and the "funnel" date by which bills had to clear a legislative committee passed nearly a month ago.
The 56-44 Democratic majority in the Iowa House may or may not be solid on this issue, but I believe that the 32-18 Democratic majority in the Iowa Senate will be enough to block any Proposition 8-style constitutional amendment during the 2010 session. (UPDATE: After reading today's joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, I am convinced that a constitutional amendment on this issue is going nowhere in 2010.)
Even if Republicans made electoral gains on this issue and picked up seats in November 2010, they would have to get a constitutional amendment through the 2011-2012 legislature and the 2013-2014 legislature before the amendment could get on the ballot. That would mean Iowans could vote on same-sex marriage rights in November 2013. By that time I believe support for gay marriage will have grown substantially.
Gronstal and Murphy indicated on Friday that they would not bring this forward, but that will not stop the opposition from flooding their offices with demands for a vote. Let's make sure they know they have our support and let's try to ensure that our support is as loud as the opposition.
Meanwhile, Steve King (IA-05), our resident wingnut Congressman and embarrassment to all Iowans, says he'll make this an issue in 2010 and run against Culver in the event Culver doesn't do anything about the ruling:
"If Gov. Culver does not step up and be very definitive on this and take action before the end of this general assembly, this will be a big issue when he runs in 2010," King said.
When prompted by a question, King said if the issue isn’t properly handled, "it does make it more likely I will run."
Of course, Governor Culver can't really do anything but pressure the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader. Let's make sure Governor Culver knows he has our support and remind him that this ruling will ultimately be great for Iowa in several ways - if he isn't convinced by the "Iowa is now a continued leader on Civil Rights, just like we have been since the 19th Century" argument, perhaps he'll be persuaded by the, "holy shit this could be great for our economy argument".
Email Governor Culver
Call Governor Culver: 515-281-5211
Contact Form for Governor Culver and Lt. Governor Patty Judge
The opposition have an uphill battle, but the one thing Governor Culver can do is call for a special session. As this article indicates, that could put legislators in a tough position and put increased pressure on the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader.
There are some other options:
A more likely first step opponents will take will be to change Iowa’s marriage law to add a residency requirement. Several conservative activists are already calling for such a change, fearing same-sex couples from around the country will come to Iowa to be married, return home and challenge their state’s marriage laws. U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Kiron Republican, said Iowa has the potential to become a "gay marriage Mecca."
I don't see this happening, but at this point, let's try to prevent them from even considering it. A Big Ten poll (pdf warning) from October 2008 shows 35.1% of Iowans accepting of gay marriage and an additional 26.7% supportive of Civil Unions as an alternative. 9.5% refused or don't know and only 28.7% oppose all same-sex relationships. A more recent poll (from the article cited above)
Across the entire sample, 30.4 percent of Iowans favor accepting a ruling to allow same-sex marriage. One-fourth supports the creation of civil unions as an acceptable alternative. One-third believe the constitution should be amended to ban any same-sex relationship.
"This represents a very small increase in support for marriage following a court ruling, drawing mostly from respondents who generally prefer civil unions," Redlawsk said.
The support is there. Let's make some noise. The longer people are legally getting married in Iowa, the harder it will be for a Constitutional Amendment to get on the ballot and get to a vote - and the more likely that vote will be to fail because the majority of Iowans support gay marriage.
Contact the Speaker of the House, Pat Murphy, here.
Email Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal: mike.gronstal@legis.state.ia.us
Call Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal: 515-281-4610
Just fyi, I heard a piece on Iowa Public Radio on Friday that suggested that 120 of our 150 Representatives here in Iowa oppose gay marriage. If this comes up for a vote, it is entirely possible we will see a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot. Please help us get out in front of this. Let's show our support. Let's show it often. Let's ask our family, friends, neighbors in Iowa to do the same.