The Iowa Supreme Court brought the issue of gay marriage back to the forefront of issues (at least in Iowa) when it unanimously ruled that the gay marriage ban in the state of Iowa was unconstitutional.  Without missing a step, Conservative groups, both in Iowa and all over the country, declared their renewed support to halting gay marriage.  Proposals for a (state) Constitutional amendment akin to Proposition 8 in California sprung up overnight.  Despite the renewed efforts in halting gay marriage, the Iowa Amendment process makes it unlikely the issue will be brought to voters within the next four years because of the fact Amendments need to be approved by two legislative sessions before going to a vote to be approved.  Since the current session has a Democratic majority, it is unlikely any sort of Amendment could enter it’s first phase this session.

So Iowa will have gay marriage for at least four more years.  Conservatives may feel defeated, but I think it would do the entire movement good to take a good hard look at whether or not fighting gay marriage really makes sense anymore (and perhaps whether fighting it made sense to begin with).  Most of the opposition to gay marriage is based in the traditional religious view of marriage, and I can understand the reluctance to support something that goes against many’s religious views of the world.  But for the sake of self preservation, I can hardly believe that the Conservative movement can’t see the writing on the wall.

Regardless of the status of marriage in Iowa, or any other state in the union, Barack Obama has stated that overturning the Defense of Marriage Act is a goal of his administration.  If he plans to tackle this goal with Congress, it is more likely than not that he is going to attempt to do it sooner rather than later so that he has a Democratic majority to work with.  If doesn’t plan to do it himself, his inevitable Supreme Court appointments will do it for him.  Through the President’s eyes, allowing the court system to strike down the DOMA is more beneficial.  Declaring the law unconstitutional would make the only way to reinstate a federal ban on gay marriage a Constitutional amendment… which is highly unlikely.  And once the Act gets overturned, every state would have to recognize homosexual marriage the same way they recognize heterosexual marriages – regardless of whether gay marriage was legalized in that state, basically makes defiance of gay marriage a complete farce.

Furthermore, the mantra of the Republicans and Conservatives has long been smaller, less restrictive government.  In the economic sphere, Republicans have long argued for less government influence.  Why is this any different?  Have your own personal beliefs on the issue, educate your kids in whatever those are, and let others make up their own minds.  The idea of less government influence is the very nexus of the movement.  Why abandon it?

And coming out in support of gay marriage opens up the party to support from that demographic.  The gay community doesn’t have to be tied to the left – if we were more willing to follow our own mantra, we could have thousands more party voters and perhaps a few million more swing voters.

Or the party can continue along this path and have the new generation of voters eventually turn to a different Conservative party.