Iowa State Senator Dennis Guth, a
Republican, on Wednesday shocked colleagues with an anti-gay rant
during the chamber's opening session.
“The media, for the most part, has
bamboozled us into thinking that having a relationship outside of the
boundaries of monogamous, heterosexual marriage is positive, happy
and fulfilling,” Guth said. “Movies, television shows, articles
and magazines abound with this theme, giving partial information to
[a] vulnerable audience: Our children.”
“Just as there are multiple ways that
your smoking hurts me, such as second-hand smoke, so it is with
same-sex relationships. There are health risks that my family incurs
because of the increase of sexually transmitted infections that this
lifestyle invites. For example, there are more and more medical
tests required before giving blood or giving birth,” he
added.
Democratic Senator Matt McCoy, who is
openly gay, condemned Guth's comments, calling them “ignorant.”
“I was frankly just a little bit
taken aback by some of the things that I heard today, as I know some
of my colleagues were as well,” McCoy said. “Much of what you
heard today on the floor of the Senate is warmed over rhetoric that
has been invented by the Christian right, extreme groups.”
“What I heard today was ignorant and
I know where it came from. I am not gay by choice, but I choose not
to be ignorant,” he added, possibly referring to 2010 remarks made
by Chuck Hurley, president of the Christian conservative Iowa Family
Policy Center.
In calling on lawmakers to approve a
constitutional amendment which sought to define marriage as a
heterosexual union, Hurley stated that the secondhand impact of gay
relationships are more destructive than smoking.
(Related: Iowa
conservative likens effects of gay marriage to smoking.)