Saturday, November 26, 2011

Iowa GOP Still Insists on Voting Away LGBT Rights

With the myriad important issues facing the nation and the individual states - e.g, saving the families from losing their homes in this economy, repairing a collapsing infrastructure, closing budget gaps, etc. - one would think that the Iowa GOP would have more important things to obsess about other than same sex marriage. But such is not the case. It seems that nothing gives the the GOP members of the Iowa legislature and their Christofascist supporters a near orgasm more than wanting to vote away same sex marriage rights. It's pretty f*cked up, but such is the bizarre world view of today's GOP. Think Progress looks at the continued - and fortunately doomed - effort of the Iowa GOP to vote away the civil rights of LGBT Iowans. Here are some highlights from a set to between senate majority leader Mike Gronstal (a Democrat) and senate minority leader Jerry Behn (a Christianist boot licking Republican):

Jerry Behn insists that Iowans should have the right to vote on gay people’s marriage rights during the legislative session beginning Jan. 9, despite the GOP’s recent loss in a special senate election that failed to change the balance of power in the senate. Behn debated the issue with senate majority leader Mike Gronstal, who reiterated his commitment to keeping the issue off the floor, saying, “people’s rights should not be put to a popular vote“:

GRONSTAL: If I can put, if you can put my rights to a popular vote of the people then I can put your rights to a popular vote of the people and eventually, and eventually — well, we didn’t put slavery to a vote of the people in Iowa, we didn’t put the right to go to a school in your neighborhood to a vote of the people of Iowa, we didn’t put public accommodations law to a vote of the people in Iowa. The Supreme Court said certain inalienable rights — you either — when you say the Pledge of Allegiance, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all, you don’t say for all except for gay people, you don’t say that. [...]

BEHN: It’s about Iowans being allowed to decide.

GRONSTAL: … to a vote of the people. Churches are not required to marry anybody. I just think it’s fundamentally wrong to put to a popular — it’s the whole principle …

GRONSTAL: … to protect people’s individual rights. That is, the Constitution is to protect that.

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