Iowa's Gay marriage law may be forced into a state vote, thanks to 4 Dems crossing party lines.
Dennis Black of Grinnell, Keith Kreiman of Bloomfield, Rich Olive of Story City and Joe Seng of Davenport has joined Repubs, by signing a petition to force a gay marriage vote.
However those efforts could be useless
In the next few days, Black, Kreiman, Olive and Seng signed on, bringing the total to 23, just three votes short of the majority needed to force a vote on a constitutional ban on gay marriage in the Senate. Twenty-eight Democratic Senators refused to sign on.It is said this will fail in senate, but with folks twisting and turning party lines, you just never know.Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, has repeatedly vowed to block any effort to bring a ban on same-sex marriage up for discussion, telling The Iowa Independent before the legislative session began that he would “block that at every opportunity. There will be no vote on the constitutional amendment.”
On the day the petition was introduced, Republican leadership in both legislative chambers seemed to concede defeat, with Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, saying the issue would now be decided by “the voters this November.” A recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found 62 percent of Iowans felt lawmakers have more important things to worry about than same-sex marriage.
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4 comments:
Guess it was bound to happen...
I guess the "our rights we maintain" they boast in their flag, does not encompass "all Iowans", just those who meet the criteria of an elitist club. How hypocritical we are as a society. It sickens me.
This was only political, for those running for re-election, as they represent more conservative Democratic area. Even though they were elected, the area democrats seem to continue to support republican Grassley. They need the votes of Christian Democrats which make up a large portion of those that they have to have their votes to stay elected. They had blocked ealier attempts of Republicans attempting to move forward with a marriage ammendment that would allowed the ammendment to be voted on earlier. I live near and know Kreiman personally.
It's too good for it to be true for a smaller, lesser "liberalized" state like Iowa and its allowance of same-sex unions wouldn't go without a challenge. Some simpletons will do ANYTHING to get some political capital and there is your reason. Now the answer, well V, can't deliver that for you. The irony is that nextdoor neighbor, Illinois, can't even pass a basic civil unions law outside of the Chicagoland area...
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