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35 House Republicans have introduced a marriage ban. House Joint Resolution 11 (HJR11) would exclude loving and committed gay and lesbian couples from the freedom to marry in Iowa.

We need you to call your Representatives TODAY and urge them to oppose this shameful and harmful marriage ban. We MUST defeat this bill in the House, but we cannot do it unless our Representatives hear from you!

The House switchboard phone number is 515-281-3221. Click here to find your Representative. Or, if you prefer to email your legislator, click here.

• The introduction of House Joint Resolution 11 is a shameful attempt to politicize Iowa families.We deserve leaders who stand for true family values.
• We don't support the passage of any marriage ban. Our legislators should be focusing on creating jobs, strengthening our economy, and making our schools better, not spending time passing legislation that hurts Iowa families.
• If your Representative didn't support HR11: Thank you for representing ALL Iowa families. {SHARE YOUR STORY}
• If your Representative DID support HR 11: Ask them to remember that a majority of Iowans don't support a marriage ban passing through the Legislature.
• Remind them that LGBT people are their constituents, and are our coworkers, our friends, our family members, our spouses. Share your story and ask them to focus on the issues that matter to Iowans: jobs, the economy, and education.

Please DONATE to support One Iowa's work to fight back against legislative attacks like HJR11!

The bill will be heard first in the House Judiciary Committee. After you contact your Representatives, please contact the Representatives on the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to oppose HJR11:

• Chip Baltimore (R, District 47), Chair
• Megan Hess (R, District 2), Vice Chair
• Mary Wolfe (D, District 98), Ranking Member
• Dwayne Alons (R, District 4)
• Marti Anderson (D, District 36)
• Mark Brandenburg (R, District 15)
• Dave Dawson (D, District 14)
• Julian Garrett (R, District 25)
• Tedd Gassman (R, District 7)
• Chris Hagenow (R, District 43)
• Greg Heartsill (R, District 28)
• David E. Heaton (R, District 84)
• Bobby Kaufmann (R, District 73)
• Vicki S. Lensing (D, District 85)
• Jo Oldson (D, District 41)
• Rick Olson (D, District 31)
• Tyler Olson (D, District 65)
• Mark D. Smith (D, District 71)
• Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D, District 45)
• Matt W. Windschitl (R, District 17)
• Gary Worthan (R, District 11)

One Iowa strongly condemns the passage of any marriage ban including HJR11. Will you stand with us for justice TODAY? This bill must be defeated.

A marriage resolution sends a hurtful message to some families that they are not valued by their so-called "representatives," and we urge our legislators to remember that LGBT people are their constituents, friends, neighbors, coworkers and fellow Iowans. Iowa is a better place when all families are recognized, supported, and valued by their state.  

I hope you'll take the time and make the call. We must defeat this bill.

Thank you,
Donna Red Wing
One Iowa Executive Director 

P.S. This work takes time and resources, will you donate $75 today to support our crucial legislative work?

from The Huffington Post.
by One Iowa Executive Director Donna Red Wing.

There has been a lot of movement on marriage equality recently, from responses to the upcoming United States Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Proposition 8 to shameful tactics in the Iowa State Senate. What happens in the Iowa State Legislature does have an national impact. Let's look at LGBT equality as an example.

On April 3, 2009, Iowa became the third state to rule in favor of marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Though we are now joined by eight other states and the District of Columbia, we are still the only non-coastal state that has marriage equality. We are a national leader in the movement toward equality. What happens in Iowa has a ripple effect outward, across the plains, into the Rockies, south toward the Gulf, north into the cold waters of the Great Lakes, and eastward into the bustling cities and industrial communities. What we do here makes a difference in Pittsburgh and Detroit, in Anchorage and Honolulu. What we accomplish here sends a message to our neighbors in Omaha and Minneapolis. On the flip side, whenever we fail to advance equality and justice, we cede precious ground to our opponents across the country, sending a message that in Middle America, in the heartland, equality is delayed or denied.

As a leader in the LGBT movement for nearly three decades, I understand that progress is not a "straight" line from one point to the other. Instead, it is a kind of dance; it moves, takes two steps forward and one step backward, and in some places does a little "do-si-do." Progress loops back on itself, pirouettes and strikes in unexpected and interesting ways. This is how our movement communicates and operates.

That's why I think it's important that I connect what is going on in Iowa with what is trending across the country.

This past week, along with the rest of the nation, we celebrated the hundreds of amicus briefs that were submitted to the United States Supreme Court, all opposing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and/or urging the Supreme Court to rule that Proposition 8, the harmful California ballot initiative that blocked same-sex couples from marriage, is unconstitutional. We saw businesses and nonprofits, legal communities and medical communities, teachers and nurses, labor groups and environmental groups, Democrats and Republicans all find common ground and stand up for justice. We again saw our president stand on the side of American families -- our families -- and we saw conservatives advocate for true family values. The sheer volume of support for marriage equality has been overwhelming and will undoubtedly be viewed as one of those "two steps forward" in our movement's history.

I want to focus on Republican support for overturning DOMA, because it speaks volumes about the conversations we are all having on the issue of marriage. Some were absolutely shocked that over 75 prominent Republicans signed an amicus brief against DOMA, while others like One Iowa were proud to have our friends stand with us on the right side of history.

Ken Mehlman was one of those Republicans who signed the brief. Earlier this month Mr. Mehlman came to Iowa to make the conservative case for marriage equality. He was joined by Mitt Romney's Iowa strategist David Kochel and members ofIowa Republicans for Freedom, a group of conservatives and Republicans who all support the freedom of same-sex couples to marry in Iowa. To hear members of the GOP talk about their support for marriage equality because of their conservative values, not in spite of them, was truly inspiring. The Republican Party was founded on principles of individual liberty and limited government, and what could be more antithetical to those principles than telling someone that they can't marry the person they love? We are having that conversation here in Iowa, and we know that these conversations are happening around the country.

This event and the outpouring of support we saw afterwards is why we aren't surprised that prominent Republicans have endorsed DOMA's full repeal on a national level. Nevertheless, we know that we have a lot of work to do to truly have bipartisan (and ultimately nonpartisan) support for marriage equality.

Let's take a step backwards now. Earlier last week, 18 Iowa State Senate Republicans introduced a ban on marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Senate Joint Resolution 5, or S.J.R. 5, would put this issue on the ballot for a vote that would eliminate a freedom that we have enjoyed in the state for nearly four years. The introduction of this resolution was nothing more than political grandstanding by a few senators who ran on anti-marriage-equality platforms. Though it was a petty act with no chance of movement, it sent a painful reminder to hundreds of Iowan families that some politicians do not value them.

As the Iowa GOP grapples with this issue, so too are Republicans on the national stage. And it isn't always pretty or well-messaged. Often it's fraught with controversy, hyperbole and harmful rhetoric. A few weeks ago A.J. Spiker, the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, commented on Iowa Press that "there is a gay marriage party in the state of Iowa and that's the Iowa Democratic Party. The Republican Party embraces one-man, one-woman marriage and embraces the right of the people to vote on the definition of marriage." His statements fail to reflect the spectrum of conservative values in his own party and further entrenches this issue in two-party politics. That isn't what this is about.

Though we have seen forward momentum over the past few months, we are also still battling a mentality that marriage and equality are political issues, and that if a conservative supports marriage equality, fellow conservatives can and should use that against him or her in primaries. We must get beyond this discourse and remember that this isn't about politics but about people.

Here in Iowa we are having these conversations. They are sometimes painful, sometimes public and sometimes very quiet. Most of the time we are talking with our friends and neighbors, within our congregations and political parties, at our workplaces and in our homes. We are having the conversations that are shaping the national movement. What we have achieved here in Iowa has had an extraordinary impact on the rest of the nation, and we are continuing to advance equality, even as we celebrate four years of marriage equality in our state.

And so the dance continues. We know that our struggle for equality is on the right side of justice. We know that we will continue to reach out to conservatives and Republicans and invite pro-equality leaders on both sides of the aisle to join us. And we know that as Iowa goes, so goes the nation. Two steps forward... "do-si-do."

Read the article from The Huffington Post.
Read more from Donna's Blog.
Read more One Iowa in the News.
Read more In the News.