Today’s Iowa Supreme Court Decision to strike down Iowa’s Defense of Marriage Act comes with consequences for the other 47 states and potentially for those who dissent. The Iowa Christian Alliance in a statement today said the following:
The court in a unanimous decision held that Iowa’s Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), Code Section 595.2 is stricken and "further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage."What this means for Iowa and perhaps for the forty-seven other
states in the country that currently do not recognize same-sex marriage is, to say the least, a monumental mess. Because Iowa’s statutes pertaining to marriage do not restrict that privilege to Iowa residents, gay couples from any state may come to Iowa, get married, return to their state and demand recognition under the Full Faith and Credit (Article IV, Sec. 1) provision of the U.S. Constitution. "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."Although the Iowa decision does not require that religious institutions perform gay marriages or that persons engaged in providing services to wedding couples (i.e., photographers, wedding planners, etc.) under Iowa’s Civil Rights protection statutes, the issue may become a cause for action. Homosexuals will demand that gay marriage be discussed and endorsed in all curricula where marriage and family is taught. Lawsuits costing defendants thousands of dollars have proceeded in Massachusetts and Canada when citizens who, for personal reasons, objected to their children in elementary grades being taught that gay marriage was as wholesome as traditional heterosexual marriage. It is an established fact that the Iowa Civil Rights Commission is dominated by persons who are active in the gay rights movement. We will have more on this in subsequent releases.
A monumental mess is putting it lightly. The Iowa General Assembly must THIS session pass a law requiring one of the parties to have an established residence in Iowa. That just makes sense. Don’t turn Iowa into the Las Vegas of gay marriage like what Senator Matt McCoy would like to do.
Update 4/9/09: Linked by Christianity Lived Out.