Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tuesday, February 1

Now here was another interesting day! Because of the weather, the 4:00 session was bumped up to 11:00 for debate on the Constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage.  Who says there is no use for blizzards?

Once again, about half of the Democrats spoke on the issue.  Their argument was that the Constitution grants equal rights to everyone.  The Republicans argued that the people of Iowa have the right to vote on such an issue.  Note that the resolution does not directly ban gay marriage - if it passes the Senate, it must wait a year and be passed again in both chambers.  If that happens, it is put on the next ballot for all Iowans to vote on whether to amend the Constitution.

The final vote was 62-37 in favor of adopting the resolution.  Representatives Quirk and Swaim were the two Democrats who *gasp* crossed over.  De Boef was absent; I think she has a new grandson.

For the last two hours of the day I ran the switchboard all by myself.  Boy, did I feel important.

No comments:

Post a Comment