As if there wasn't enough bad news last night, the push by anti-gay and lesbian groups to oust three of the judges who joined the Iowa Supreme Court's historic decision holding that same-sex marriage was required by the state constitution narrowly succeeded. And the fight is just beginning, as the forces of reaction will try to push for a constitutional amendment overruling the court's decision:
Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, wrote on his blog Tuesday that the vote may be enough to “motivate complacent legislators to finally get on board with a marriage amendment, and maybe even go around Mike Gronstal to do so.”
Gronstal, the Democratic leader in the state Senate, has repeatedly vowed to never allow a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage to come up for a vote. But with Republicans in control of the Iowa House, and a much smaller Democratic advantage in the state Senate, marriage may become a big issue during the 2011 session. During the 2010 session, advocates for an amendment came just five votes shy of forcing a vote on marriage over Gronstal's objections.
Hopefully, Democrats in the Iowa Senate will stand up to this intimidation of the judiciary to ensure that this attempt to once again strip away fundamental rights from the state's gay and lesbian citizens will fail. It will be cold comfort to the judges who were defeated in the short term, but they will be remembered as courageous and prescient for the ruling that led to their ouster, while those celebrating will be remembered in history with those who cheered the obstruction of Brown v. Board and the filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
--Scott Lemieux
