Politics & Government

Johnson County Legislator is Sponsor of Anti-Gay-Marriage Bill

State Sen. Sandy Greiner of Keota is among the co-sponsors of a bill that would ban same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Iowa Sen. Sandy Greiner, R-Keota, is one of the co-sponsors of a bill in the Iowa Legislature that would outlaw same-sex marriage, reports the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Greiner, whose district includes parts of southern and western Johnson County, and 17 other Republicans in the Iowa Senate introduced Senate Joint Resolution 5 this week, the newspaper said. The bill calls for an amendment “specifying that marriage between one man and one woman shall be the only legal union valid or recognized in this state.”

Republicans have brought up the proposal annually since the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009 ruled that same-sex marriage is legal. That prompted a successful effort in the 2010 election by social conservatives to oust three Supreme Court justices who had ruled on the issue, but a similar effort to oust a justice up for retention in 2012 failed.

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Justice David Wiggins received a 54 percent retention rate in the November 2012 general election despite opposition from groups like Iowans for Freedom headed by former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, is expected to prevent a vote on the measure, but gay marriage opponents are hopeful, the newspaper said.

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“I believe in a God who has control of all things, and that includes Sen. Gronstal,” Iowa Sen. Dennis Guth, R-Klemme, told the Des Moines Register.


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