Iowa state representative Bruce Hunter (D-Des Moines) said it best: “Here’s the funny thing about rights – they’re not supposed to be voted on.”
Except that’s exactly what happened today. And if Iowa Republicans (and some Democrats) have their way, the ballot is how all the same-sex couples in Iowa are going to be stripped of their right to marry. As boji diaried earlier, the Iowa House voted 62-37 to pass a constitutional amendment banning not just marriage equality, but even domestic partnerships and civil unions. Now, literally one man – Democratic Majority Leader Mike Gronstal – is standing in the way of putting up gay and lesbian Iowans’ civil rights for a popular vote, as he has vowed to prevent the measure from coming up for a vote in the Senate. If a vote is somehow forced, nobody knows how it will turn out, since Democrats only hold a two-vote majority in the Senate.
Of course, even if that happens, the measure will have to be approved by two consecutive General Assemblies, and the earliest this could go to the voters is 2013.
The debate went as one would expect. The same tired arguments were made that have been made over and over and over again. The procreation argument was made, as was the incest/polygamy argument. It seems that Republicans in Iowa have not changed at all since the 2009 legalization of marriage equality (there are some things we can count on).
There were many good moments, though, and one of the speakers was particularly memorable. His name is Zach Wahls, and he’s 19-year-old engineering student not much unlike any other college student. Except that he was raised by lesbian mothers. And he has something to say to those arguing marriage equality will harm children and the family: “I was raised by gay parents, and I’m doing pretty well.”
His message is an important one. When legislators (and voters, if it makes it that far) vote to take away a couple’s right to marry, they’re voting to strip a family that isn’t really different from their own of dignity and respect. As Zach said of his own family:
When I’m home, we go to church together, we eat dinner, we go on vacations. But, you know, we have our hard times, too. We get in fights…My mom Terri was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. It is a devastating disease that put her in a wheelchair. So we’ve had our struggles. But, you know, we’re Iowans. We don’t expect anyone to solve our problems for us. We’ll fight our own battles. We just hope for equal and fair treatment from our government.
He went on to describe how he has fared in life, having been raised by lesbian parents:
I scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. I’m actually an Eagle Scout. I own and operate my own small business. And if I was your son, Mr. Chairman, I believe I’d make you very proud.
He then talked about what this vote would mean to his own family:
My family really isn’t so different from yours. After all, your family doesn’t derive its sense of worth from being told by the state, ‘You're married – congratulations.’ No, the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other, to work through the hard times so we can enjoy the good ones. It comes from the love that binds us – that’s what makes a family. So what you’re voting here isn’t to change us. It’s not to change our families, it’s to change how the law views us, how the law treats us…So will this vote affect my family? Would it affect yours?
Watch the full video below:
It takes a lot for me to tear up, but that did it. Zach Wahls spoke eloquently for many families that Republicans in Iowa are trying their damndest to target and destroy. But no matter what happens, they won’t get the satisfaction, because you can’t destroy love, and you can’t destroy real families like Zach’s. Thank God for that.
What they can do is take away civil rights. They can vote for state-sanctioned discrimination against these families. And that is unconscionable.
But I’m optimistic. The reason I’m optimistic is because of people like Zach. They’re living proof that gay families are just like other families, that children raised by gay couples are just like other children, that gay families are bound together by the same love that binds together any other healthy family. It’s a shame that Republicans, and even some Democrats, won’t shed their bigotry and see that.
By the way, after some Google searching, I found this article on marriage equality written by Zach Wahls for the Daily Iowan. It’s a good read – as eloquent as his speech on the Iowa House floor.