When the Supreme Court overturned the infamous Roe v Wade last year, everyone took it as a sign that gay marriages might also be soon reversed in the U.S. And now, thanks to a group of Iowa Republican lawmakers, that seems to be in the works.
According to NBC News, right GOP legislators in Iowa signed and joined together to propose a resolution that, if passed, would effectively ban gay marriages from taking place in the state.
The resolution reads, “In accordance with the laws of nature and nature’s God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female.”
The only problem, of course, would be that it would be a direct violation of the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that made same-sex marriage lawful in the U.S., as well as last fall’s “Respect for Marriage Act,” which further protects those supposed rights and unions.
This means that Democrats far and wide will be up in arms and are already about the proposed law and its legality. Already, the measure has been deemed as “disgusting” and “backward” by more than a few on the political left.
There is good news, though.
In addition to this resolution, eight Iowan GOP members measure (six of whom signed the other resolution) also signed and filed a separate, which would essentially seek to protect the rights of both citizens and organizations from participating in same-sex marriages or ceremonies on the grounds of their religious beliefs.
So if Iowan residents or based organizations refused service to a gay couple for marriage purposes, they could no longer be deemed as discriminating. Instead, their religious beliefs would protect them.
This bill, known as H.F. 508, says, “no resident of Iowa shall be compelled, coerced, or forced to recognize any same-sex unions or ceremonies as marriage, notwithstanding any laws to the contrary that may exist in other states, and no legal action, criminal or civil, shall be taken against citizens in Iowa for refusal or failure to recognize or participate in same-sex unions or ceremonies.”
Additionally, this resolution would declare some parts of the “Respect for Marriage Act” as “null and void” in the state of Iowa. According to these lawmakers and the resolution, the act violates the religious freedoms of Americans and shouldn’t be held as law.
Now, of course, if either resolution were passed, a whole slew of political and cultural battles would ensue, possibly leading to a Supreme Court case. But if nothing else, at least it’s starting a very serious conversation about the topic.
And while it’s unlikely that the first will be passed, the second does have a pretty good shot at legitimacy, controversial though it may be. While it wouldn’t ban gay marriages at all, at the very least it would give credence to Christian beliefs and perspectives, something the Respect for Marriage Act does not.
Finally, Christians would have a right to hold to their beliefs and be protected from those who might want to see them fold, going against what they believe to be right and wrong.
Additionally, the bill wouldn’t restrict those who do not believe in the traditional definition of marriage as most Christians do. At the very least, it would be a compromise of sorts, allowing all religions to carry out their beliefs without punishment for such.
And, who knows, with a law like this in place in at least one state, it provides hope that other states could take it on or that gay marriages could eventually be banned again in the U.S. as a whole. We might have quite a long way to go to get there, but as the Good Book says, with God, anything is possible.
