GOP leader pledges to continue push for vote on gay marriage

State Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, promised Tuesday night that GOP legislators will continue to push for a popular vote on same-sex marriage in Iowa, in spite of a federal ruling that a voter-approved ban in California violated the U.S. Constitution.

“Since the April 3, 2009 ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court allowing marriage to be something other than just between one man and one woman, Senate Republicans have been resolute in our numerous attempts to give the voters of Iowa an opportunity to vote on the basic definition of marriage. The recent ruling in California does nothing to shake our resolve,” McKinley said.

A federal judge ruled in a scathing decision last week that gay and lesbian couples in California have a constitutional right to marry, striking down Proposition 8, a voter-approved ballot measure that previously banned same-sex marriage. The ruling is being appealed and is expected to eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reminding voters of pledges by Democratic leadership in the legislature that no action would be taken in the wake of the Iowa court’s decision, McKinley urged those who wish to have a popular vote on the issue to elect Republicans in November.

“If you believe Iowans — not unelected judges — should have the final say on this important issue, I encourage you to become actively involved in your local State Senate and State House race immediately,” he said.

Although McKinley does not say so directly, it is likely his statement was a reminder to Iowa’s social conservatives to not lose sight of a larger political picture in November. Republican businessman Bob Vander Plaats, who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, took a parting swipe at the nominee, Terry Branstad, in the wake of the California ruling by refusing to endorse the GOP nominee and calling his new campaign — a push to oust the three Iowa Supreme Court Justices up for a retention vote this fall — “one of, if not the most important election in our country.”

Some conservative leaders, even those who fought hard for an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage, reversed course after the California ruling. Christian radio host Steve Deace said on his drive-time show last week that the judge’s decision makes the amendment strategy “null and void.” It would ultimately be struck down with all other state marriage laws by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said.

“I think the ruling makes efforts like the Iowa Marriage Amendment irrelevant,” Deace said. “I think we’d spend an unnecessary amount of time and effort to get that passed — and this is coming from someone, by the way, whom I’m guessing no one gave more free airtime to pass the Iowa Marriage Amendment than I have the last three years. But I’m not going to tilt at windmills here. At this point it doesn’t make a difference.”

Deep ideological differences on social conservative issues such as same-sex marriage separated Branstad and Vander Plaats during the primary, which Branstad won by garnering roughly 50 percent of the vote. Vander Plaats far out-performed polling figures leading into the June primary election by earning roughly 40 percent of the vote. Continued calls by Vander Plaats and his supporters for social conservatives to not compromise on their principles could lead to a fracturing of traditional party activists come November.