The leader of the Iowa Family Policy Center says a ruling on gay marriage that’s pending from the Iowa Supreme Court has implications far beyond Iowa’s borders. A lower court ruling that briefly allowed one gay couple to marry in Des Moines on August 31st has been appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Iowa Family Policy Center president Chuck Hurley says if the court rules gay marriage is legal in Iowa, Iowa will become a national center for gay marriage. "Most of you don’t know this yet, but because Iowa has no residency requirement to get married if the Supreme Court of Iowa allows Judge Hanson’s decision to stand, a handful of judges will be redefining marriage for all 300 million Americans," Hurley says.
"Homosexual couples around the country will be able to fly to Iowa and get married and go home and sue under the (U.S. Constitution’s) full faith and credit clause and enforce gay marriage in their state."
Hurley made his comments Wednesday during an anti-gay marriage rally on the steps of the statehouse. Hurley prayed to God, who he called the "supreme judge."
"Grant the seven supreme court judges wisdom to judge righteous judgment in this appeal of Judge Robert Hanson’s egregious and activist decision overturning our Defense of Marriage law," Hurley said. The state has a law which declares the only legal marriages in Iowa are those between and man and a woman, but that law has been challenged in the case pending before the Iowa Supreme Court.