Iowa House Republicans will attempt to
bring about a vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
on Monday, the Iowa Independent reported.
The paper is reporting that gay rights
group One Iowa believes Republicans will attempt to fish a bill that
seeks to define marriage as a heterosexual union in the Iowa
Constitution out of committee and put it up for a floor vote.
Committee members have not acted on Democratic state Representative
Michael Reasoner's proposed bill that aims to overturn the Iowa
Supreme Court's April 3, 2009 ruling legalizing gay marriage.
“While legislative leadership has
stood firm in support of equality, extremists are attempting to
overthrow House rules and push an anti-marriage amendment to the
floor!” One
Iowa said in an email alert.
The procedural move to pull a bill out
of committee requires a 51 vote majority. Seven Democrats would have
to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans for the procedure to
succeed. At least one Democrat, Reasoner, is expected to do that.
Last year, Republicans made several
attempts to bring a similar measure to the floor. Democratic
leaders, however, managed to block the efforts.