Rep. Steve King: The Gays Are Invading Iowa!

Somebody should seriously consider casting Iowa Rep. Steve King in a remake of War of the Worlds. Why? Because he has his paranoid invasion rhetoric down pat.

This week the Iowa Department of Public Health, the government institution that keeps track of how many people are getting married and applying for marriage licenses in the state, issued a report that chronicled the first year of same-sex marriage in Iowa. One year ago, Iowa's State Supreme Court ruled that their constitution required the recognition of same-sex marriage. As such, Iowa became one of a half dozen U.S. states to recognize same-sex marriage, and the first state to do so outside of an ocean coastline.

The Department of Public Health found that 2,020 same-sex marriages were recorded in the Hawkeye State, and interestingly enough, 60 percent of these were marriages of out-of-state gay couples. Folks from Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska and more, who took a bus or hopped on a plane to celebrate their nuptials in Iowa.

All those out-of-state gay couples coming to Iowa to get married have GOP Rep. King in a tizzy. The politician issued a press release this week, eschewing the fact that same-sex marriage has turned Iowa into "a gay Mecca." Darn all those gay people, coming in to the state to spend money, purchase marriage licenses, hire wedding planners and caterers, and expressing their love for one another.

"Just over one year ago, when the Iowa Supreme Court decided to ignore Iowa law and grant same sex couples the ability to get married in our state, I predicted that the decision, absent action by the state legislature to enact a marriage license residency requirement, would turn Iowa into the gay marriage Mecca," Rep. King said. He went on to call out-of-state gay couples "altar shoppers" who are hurting society by getting married.

Though Rep. King's comments are steeped in paranoia and bizarreness (anyone else picturing him dressing up like Paul Revere, and riding a horse through the heart of Des Moines bellowing, "The Homos are Coming! The Homos are Coming!"), his words shouldn't necessarily be written off as ludicrous. Yes, they are, but they also represent a wing of the GOP in Iowa that furiously wants to rescind the right of gay and lesbian couples to get married in the state.

Thanks to the diligent work of One Iowa, as well as the courage of a bunch of Iowa legislators, a ballot measure that would allow voters to decide on whether to steal the right to marry away has been defeated a few times. But the sleeping dogs of the anti-gay movement in Iowa are never sleeping. Instead, they're at work in this year's gubernatorial race pushing anti-gay marriage candidates, hoping that in a few years time, civil rights will be a thing of the past in Iowa.

Here's hoping that inflammatory comments like Rep. King's only serve to show how radical opponents of gay marriage really are in the state. Given the tone of Rep. King's press release, one would think gay couples are locusts descending on Iowa to destroy humanity, instead of loving couples looking to share a life together with one another.

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