Republican Lawmakers Ask The Court to Suspend Same Sex Marriage

Des Moines, Iowa - MAR 5, 2023: Sunday Rally to Resist. 2,000 people rallied outside the Iowa State Capitol in support of LGBTQ rights

Iowa has joined a growing list of states where Republican lawmakers are introducing resolutions asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized marriage equality in all 50 states.

Iowa state Sen. Sandy Salmon (R) introduced S.C.R. 3, which says that court rulings are “not laws” and therefore the Obergefell decision is “an illegitimate overreach.” It says that Obergefell runs counter to the idea that “human dignity is innate” and specifically comes from God.

 

It says that marriage is “the union of one man and one woman” and that the Court “arbitrarily and unjustly rejected this definition of marriage in favor of a novel, flawed interpretation of key clauses within the Constitution of the United States.”

If passed, the resolution would simply state that the state of Iowa believes the Obergefell decision is illegitimate and that copies of the resolution “shall be distributed to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

This type of resolution has become something of a trend for Republicans in 2025. Such resolutions have been introduced in at least six other states: Michigan, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

But in Iowa’s case, this resolution makes less sense. Obergefell didn’t legalize marriage equality in Iowa. Iowa started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2009 after the state supreme court upheld a lower court ruling in favor of LGBTQ+ rights. That ruling was based on the state constitution’s equal protection clause and the state’s legal precedent when it came to civil rights law.

This means that even if the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell, same-sex couples will still be able to get married in Iowa.

S.C.R. 3 has been referred to the state’s Judiciary Committee.

  LGBTQ Nation