IA lawmaker says a national answer needed on gay marriage

A key legislator says Iowa lawmakers probably won’t revisit the issue of gay marriage in 2005. Senate President Jeff Lamberti, a republican from Ankeny, says it’s time for a federal answer. Lamberti says as states like Massachusetts are recognizing gay marriages, there’s now a question as to whether other states have to acknowledge those unions as legal. Iowa has a law which declares that the only marriages legal in Iowa are ones between a man and a woman. The federal Defense of Marriage Act outlines similar sentiments, but Lamberti says the courts now have to resolve whether that’s the law of the land and whether states like Iowa will be forced to recognize civil unions from Vermont or Massachusetts or California. Lamberti made his comments during an appearance on Iowa Public Television.