Iowa Govenor Unikely to Support Marriage Amendment

Another blow to the right wing yesterday as Iowa Governor Chet Culver broke his silence on Friday's Supreme Court ruling and issued a statement that he is unlikely to support an amendment to the state's constitution that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.

“The Court also concluded that the denial of this right constitutes discrimination," Culver said. "Therefore, after careful consideration and a thorough reading of the Court’s decision, I am reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory.”

Same-sex marriage opponents have been pressuring the governor and legislators to call for a special legislative session to amend the constitution.

Though Culver has mentioned his belief in heterosexual marriage, he recognized that the court’s decision reaffirmed a church’s role to conduct their own religious marriages. He distinguished between a religious marriage and a civil marriage.

“The Court does not have, nor should any court ever have, that kind of power over our religious lives. Our churches and places of worship are free to decide for themselves, as they were before, who may enter the sacred covenant of marriage. As the Supreme Court’s decision states, ‘The sanctity of all religious marriages celebrated in the future will have the same meaning as those celebrated in the past,’ ” Culver said.

Contact Gov. Chet Culver and thank him for his support of civil marriage and the separation of church and state.