Christian conservative Bob Vander
Plaats has called on Utah Governor Gary Herbert to ignore a court
ruling declaring the state's ban on gay marriage invalid.
Vander Plaats, president of the
Iowa-based The Family Leader and a possible 2014 Iowa Republican
Senate candidate, claimed during a radio interview that the judge's
ruling was wrong because same-sex marriage “goes against the law of
nature,” which makes it “against the constitution.”
(Related: Utah
gay marriage plaintiffs have until Friday to respond to Supreme
Court.)
“First of all, Justice [Robert]
Shelby, there's a lot of issues with his ruling. Number one is, you
had the people of Utah already amend the constitution to what
marriage is. And you're supposed to uphold the constitution, not
redefine the constitution,” Vander
Plaats incorrectly said, as Shelby is a federal judge.
“Two is, there is no research on it.
There is no data on it. Why? Because it never existed before. So
all there is is speculation. But what we know is, it goes against
the law of nature and the law of nature's God, which means, again,
it's against the constitution.”
“My suggestion to Governor Herbert:
Don't overcomplicate this. Don't over-study this or analyze this.
Lead on this. Issue an executive order from the governor's office
that places a stay on this judge's decision until the people of Utah
resolve this, either through the legislature – the people's
representatives – or through another vote, if you need to go
through another vote. But you don't allow an activist judge to have
his way to inflict same-sex marriage on the entire state of Utah.”
Vander Plaats made a similar demand in
2009, asking then-Governor Chet Culver to stop an Iowa Supreme Court
decision legalizing same-sex marriage with an executive order.
(Related: Foes
in Iowa want governor to stop gay marriage.)