Iowa senator introduces gender-neutral civil marriage legislation
Openly gay Iowa state senator Matt McCoy (Democrat) has introduced legislation that would make civil marriages in Iowa gender neutral.
The bill would remove words such as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ from the state’s laws, replacing them with ‘spouse’.
The legislation means that if the Iowa Supreme Court was to rule that the state’s Defence of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, same-sex marriage would be legal in Iowa and the language in laws would have to reflect that.
In an interview with Radio Iowa’s O Kay Henderson, McCoy said: “I think it’s a good bill and it’s something that shouldn’t be controversial. We should just be thinking about how this is all going to work once Iowa becomes a Mecca for gay marriage.”
In answer to the question of whether the state will become a Mecca for gay marriage, McCoy commented: “I think it’d be good for the economy.”
