Please pass this email on to anyone you know in Iowa, because instructions for taking urgent action are below.
Editor's Note: For more information on this and other family issues, please go to www.familyleader.net
The battle for the definition of marriage hit the heartland on Friday as seven unelected judges on the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In three weeks, when this ruling takes effect, it will give Iowa the dubious distinction of joining Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only states that allow same-sex partners to marry, and the first Midwestern state to see their marriage laws fall under the ax of judicial tyranny.
What is also disturbing is the reasoning the justices used to justify their trumping of the people's will and mandating a radical redefinition of marriage. The court said that the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman resulted in the denial of marriage benefits to same-sex couples, particularly, “the personal and public affirmation that accompanies marriage.” In other words, homosexual unions must be affirmed, lauded and protected by society in the same way that marriage has always been. This, of course, also impacts the way marriage is discussed and understood in the teaching of children at school in Iowa.
The court analyzed the statute solely on equal protection grounds, arguing that “equal protection can only be defined by the standards of each generation.” Here they imply that America 's standards have been deeply altered.
In this, however, they are reflecting the attitudes of the liberal and judicial elite, and not the sentiments of the majority of the people, who have consistently and by healthy margins voted to protect marriage when the matter has been put to them. At once the judges flew in the face of their own state law, the facts of human biology, thousands of years of tradition, and the multitude of studies that show that children fare best when raised by their own biological parents.
When judges make sweeping enactments like this that undercut society's most foundational institution, democracy itself is eroded.
Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal said, before the decision was handed down, that “procedural rules” would keep the legislature from considering any resolutions on marriage this late in the process. However, the possibility of suspending the rules lies in his hands. If the General Assembly is willing, they could work quickly to pass a bill calling for a marriage amendment—and then join the 29 other states that have passed such amendments. To make this happen, however, requires, immediate and urgent action on the part of Iowans.
Lawmakers in Iowa have to know that having marriage and the people's will trampled like this ignites citizens.
Take Action
Call your lawmakers
- If you live in Iowa call Senators Michael Gronstal (mike.gronstal@legis.state.ia.us; phone: 515-281-4610) and Paul McKinley (paul.mckinley@legis.state.ia.us) urging them to pass a bill calling for an amendment. Contact your own lawmaker in the Iowa General Assembly with the same message. Contact information is here. http://www.legis.state.ia.us/aspx/Legislators/LegislatorInfo.aspx If you do not live in Iowa, please pass this message on to any friends of yours that do live there and urge them to act.
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