POSTED: 5:28 am CST March 24, 2004 UPDATED: 5:45 am CST March 24, 2004
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Senate narrowly defeated a resolution Tuesday night that would have called for a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.
Lawmakers debated whether the resolution, which defines marriage as a union between only one man and one woman, was needed.
Sen. Matt McCoy, a Des Moines Democrat, argued that there's already an Iowa law that recognizes only marriage between a man and a woman.
He said a voter referendum on the amendment would have cost the state about $1.4 million "to outlaw something that's already illegal in Iowa."
McCoy was among the Democratic lawmakers who opposed the resolution and clasped hands and patted each others' backs after it was defeated 24 in favor to 25 against.
Sen. Ken Veenstra, an Orange City Republican, sponsored the resolution. He said lawmakers should bolster the state constitution, especially after recent court rulings around the nation that recognize same-sex unions.
This is disingenuous, but it's the same argument Dems in the Georgia state legislature are using: Why mess with the state constitution when we already have laws on the books? Of course, once some judge finds a right to same-sex marriage hidden between the lines in that constitution, and invalidates all the state laws to the contrary, these legislators will start defending this new "constitutional right" with the same zeal they already use in support of abortion.