Republican Iowa legislators introduced a measure Tuesday that seeks to end state recognition of same-sex marriages through an amendment to the state constitution.
The amendment would define marriage as a union between a biologically male and female person. The Supreme Court required states to recognize same-sex marriages in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, and President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in December, requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages; Iowa’s amendment would run afoul of federal law, which takes precedent over state law.
“In accordance with the laws of nature and nature’s God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female,” the proposal reads.
“HR508 is really about Federal government operating far outside its constitutional boundaries. Here, the feds are trying to tell states what ‘marriage’ is and is not,” Republican Iowa state Rep. Brad Sherman said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The federal government simply does not have the power to do that. HR508 does not redefine or erase any existing state law regarding same-sex marriage.”
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