Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike
Gronstal has reiterated his opposition to a gay marriage debate.
During an appearance on Iowa Public
Television's Iowa
Press, Gronstal promised he would block a proposed
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Iowa from reaching
the Senate floor.
“People's rights should not be put to
a popular vote,” Gronstal, a Democrat from Council Bluffs, said.
“We didn't put slavery to a vote of the people. We didn't put the
right to go to a school in your neighborhood to a vote of the people
of Iowa.”
Democrats in the Senate kept their
1-seat majority earlier this month when Democrat Liz
Mathis won a special election.
Earlier this year, the
Republican-controlled House approved the amendment that seeks to undo
the Iowa Supreme Court's 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in
the state.
Senate Minority Leader Jerry Behn
called Gronstal's decision “outrageous.”
“We're just discussing should Iowans
get a vote on it.” Behn said. “Absolutely, Iowans should get a
vote on it. It's outrageous that he's going to say no.”