Iowa Legislators Continue Assault On Marriage

[RetiredTrotskyite]

I just received this in my mail. Apparently it is not just marriage equality they want to go after, it is also interfaith and interracial marriage as well. This bill specifically allows discrimination on religious grounds.

TAKE ACTION: Tell House No Marriage Discrimination Act!

Less than one week after the Iowa House passed an amendment to take away the freedom to marry for LGBT couples, legislators are continuing their assault on marriage with new legislation, House Study Bill 50, or the Marriage Discrimination Act.

Use the form below to email your representative, or call the House switchboard at 515.281.3221, and let them know you support equality for all Iowa families!

Advocated by Representatives Anderson and Swaim, this bill would open the door for businesses and other entities to discriminate against LGBT couples on religious grounds. However, this legislation goes far beyond gays and lesbians. It opens the door for individuals to discriminate against any married Iowans, including interfaith and interracial:

a restaurant owner could break a signed contract with a same-sex couple to host a wedding reception because they disagree with their relationship,

hotel-owner could deny an interracial couple a room on their wedding night because they disagree with their relationship, or

a florist could break their signed contract to provide flowers at the wedding of a Catholic and Lutheran because they disagree with their relationship.
The Marriage Discrimination Act would strip away the protections Iowans currently enjoy under the Iowa Civil Rights Code. Let your representative know we do not want this discrimination in Iowa!


http://equalityfederation.salsalabs.com/o/35009/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=261

[RKP5637]

1. Yet another WTF moment of outright bigotry. n/t

[Frustratedlady]

2. This is beyond idiotic. What's going on in the Statehouse?

First, we have Branstad pop up and now these clowns.

I've never seen anything like the shenanigans they are pulling this year. Disgusting.

[RetiredTrotskyite]

3. I Agree...

Disgusting and insane.

[RKP5637]

4. These people and ones like them in other states give whole states a bad name. I am

really fed up with the bashing of others rights. All the hatred in the world, all the conflicts and these idiots want to fuel the hatred and bigotry. Gross and disgusting. It actually frightens me that people like this get into office. What are the voters thinking.

[jsamuel]

5. This battle has been fought before, in the Civil Rights Act

[ShadowLiberal]

8. Indeed, I think most of this is already outlawed at the federal level

There's laws and supreme court rulings that ban discrimination based on race or religion.

Race especially is definitely protected by both federal laws and Supreme Court rulings, faith there hasn't been as much of a fight over in the form of denying services because of it, but I'm sure judges would rule the same way.

Plus, the fact that gay marriage is legal in Iowa by state supreme court ruling 'ought' to protect married gay couples from that kind of discrimination. I say 'ought' because I know that in practice judges might not rule that way out of fear of losing their jobs, or because they're a politician in a robe. Afterall, if judges did their job every time then DOMA would have been struck down as unconstitutional almost right away, since it's a clear violation of the rules of federalism and state sovereignty, since states decide who can get married in their state, and are required to recognize marriages done in other states as if it was done in their own state, even if the couple was ineligible to marry in their state.

[jwirr]

6. My family and I are going to Iowa this summer to help my brother

and his wife with their house. I am going to make absolutely sure that not one red cent will be spent in Iowa - Minnesota is about 15 miles north and South Dakota is about 60 miles west. No food, no building supplies, no recreation, no nothing. We do not spend our money in the stores of bigots and NE Iowa has proved itself by electing King and these idiots. Sorry fellow Iowa democrats - I once was one of you also - helpless to do anything in a red state.

[AmandaMae]

7. it's people like this that make me ashamed to say I live in Iowa

Des Moines/central Iowa is more progressive, but apparently the rest of this state is full of narrow-minded bigots. Just look at Steve King- what kind of person would vote for him? And look who we chose as our governor (yet again). Ugh.

[WillParkinson]

9. Those relationships deserve protection...

Cuz, ya know, they're man and woman which isn't icky like gay people.

:sarcasm: