Protestors greet anti-gay marriage bus tour/rally

RED OAK — Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert and the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Brian Brown spoke about Iowans going to the polls to remove three judges from the State Supreme Court Monday in Red Oak’s town square.

Brown, Gohmert and the Family Rights Council Action’s Connie Mackey all came to Red Oak for a 12-minute speech in front of approximately 30 people, including several protesters, as part of a campaign to vote no on retention for three Iowa Supreme Court judges, including the Chief Justice, Marsha Ternus.
“The whole country is looking at you, why? Because the fact is, you have a chance to do something that has never been done before,” Brown said. “What you do in the next few days is going to decide how this election goes.”
The three took a few minutes each to reiterate the message of voting no on retention for Ternus, Michael Streit and David Baker, calling them activist judges.
Iowa Congressman Steve King invited Gohmert, a former circuit court of appeals judge in Texas.
“You have one chance every eight years to say ‘you know what, we think the founders had it right,’” Gohmert said.
Opponents of the campaign interrupted Mackey’s speech several times, arguing that the State Supreme Court’s decision was about discrimination and not marriage and that the people won’t always agree with what the judges rule.
“There are other ways to address different problems, but this is the situation. The American people and thousands and thousands of years of tradition and religion all say that marriage is between one man and one woman,” Mackey countered. “You got three judges that voted against the will of the people.”
Lisa Lovig, an opponent protesting the campaign, said politicizing the judicial system isn’t right.
“This should concern any Iowan, regardless of personal beliefs, about civil rights and equality, you should be concerned about politicizing our court system, our judicial system,” Lovig said.
The tour and campaign came up after an April 2009 decision stated that denying marriage to all Iowan citizens, including same-sex couples was unconstitutional.
Iowa Law states that a regular term for Justices is eight years. Towards the end of their eight year term, Justices are placed in a retention election and voters can decide if a Justice will stay in the Supreme Court or not by voting yes or no. If the Justices are voted out, the State Judicial Nominating Commission will go through an interviewing and nominee candidates for appointment to give to the governor.
Brown is the president of the NOM; Mackey is the president of the president of FRC Action. Gohmert is a representative of the first district of Texas.
The bus arrived a half an hour late after running into agriculture traffic on the way to Red Oak from Atlantic.
The tour had also hit Des Moines, Shenandoah and Council Bluffs.