No local marriage protests reported
No dissenting voices spoke at the Johnson County Recorder’s Office on Monday, the first day employees could issue same-sex marriage licenses.
As same-sex couples filed into the building, no opposition parties were at the scene. Though no protesters were reported outside the Johnson County Administration Building at any point on Monday, three individuals filed separate petitions to the recorder’s office, said Johnson County Recorder Kim Painter.
The petitions — totaling 17 signatures — urged county officials not to hand out the licenses, Painter said.
Polk County, which was expected to have the highest number of marriage-license applications, also did not see any protesters, said Valeria Mason, the county’s first deputy recorder.
“We didn’t have any [protesters] up here; we just had people dropping off petitions,” she said. “It was very orderly.”
Polk County did receive several petitions on Monday, but Mason said she was unsure how many.
Scott County officials reported seeing one protester and receiving six petitions, totaling 97 signatures, and Linn County saw 715 signatures on 49 separate petitions.
Though protests in Iowa City were nonexistent, some organizations, such as the Campus Bible Fellowship, said they strongly disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling lifting the ban on gay marriage and are upset same-sex couples can now apply for marriage licenses.
“I disapprove of it, but people will do what they do,” said Rob Carleton, an adviser to the Campus Bible Fellowship and minister at Faith Baptist Church, 1251 Village Road. “It’s an alternative lifestyle that is creeping into the schools and becoming an acceptable lifestyle.”
Kim Waldron, senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church, said he recently urged his parish members to voice their opinions to state legislators and encouraged them to support a bill banning same-sex couples from getting married.
Waldron also wrote his district legislator.
“Basically, I said I was not satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court, and I would support a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to one man and one woman,” he said.
Members of other Christian student groups at the UI, such as the Campus Christian Fellowship and the Campus Crusade for Christ, said they are not getting involved in the decision.
Roger Charley, the campus minister of Campus Christian Fellowship, said his group would not publicly oppose the state Supreme Court’s decision.
“We are not doing any protests,” he said. “Doing a protest isn’t really an effective way to handle it.”
Charley said he disagrees with the decision but he does not harbor any resentment.
“People I know who are straight or gay, I want to love them as people,” he said. “I don’t have to agree with someone’s lifestyle.”
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