Eight Republican legislators in Iowa have proposed a joint resolution to ban same-sex marriage in their state’s constitution. The proposed resolution has been met with backlash by several Iowa Democrats. This move would contradict the Supreme Court’s 2015 landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide and Congress’ bipartisan passage of the Respect for Marriage Act late last year. However, it is uncertain whether this proposed law could be enforced as federal law and the federal Constitution take precedence over state law.
State Representative Brad Sherman, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said that this resolution “would take several years to accomplish.” He added that if the people of Iowa vote for such an amendment, laws would have to be adjusted to make them fair for all.
Additionally, eight Republican legislators filed another bill that would permit Iowa residents to not acknowledge same-sex marriages on religious grounds. The bill would also consider certain elements of the Respect for Marriage Act to be null and void in Iowa. The bill’s text says that “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.”
Although proposals to ban or restrict same-sex marriage have been uncommon since the Obergefell decision in 2015, over 300 bills targeting LGBTQ people have been introduced in state legislatures this year, according to counts by the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate group of researchers who are tracking the legislation. The majority of the bills focus on transgender youths, but the two marriage bills introduced in Iowa on Tuesday are a result of the nationwide culture wars over LGBTQ issues.