Gay marriage memorial moves to Idaho Senate

BOISE — The Idaho House voted Monday to call on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the right to gay marriage.

Members voted 46-24 to approve House Joint Memorial 1, which if approved by the Senate, would send a letter to the nation’s high court asking it to “restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman.” It does not change Idaho’s current laws around marriage.

“This is to restore federalism, calling for the issue of marriage laws to the states, not to the federal government,” memorial sponsor Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said Monday.

The target of the memorial is the high court’s 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. If passed by both chambers, the memorial calls on the Legislature to ask the court to overturn the ruling.

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, countered the idea that the memorial was about “states’ rights.”

“It actually calls for the Supreme Court to declare that, from coast to coast, essentially the union is between a man and a woman,” Rubel said. “So this is not about deferring it to states’ rights. It’s about coming up with a new judicially declared mandate.”

Rubel argued that there are many rights provided by the federal government and the Supreme Court, and highlighted the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision that legalized interracial marriage nationwide.

Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise, also debated against the memorial, arguing it was a waste of time and resources because the memorial itself didn’t do anything.

“This is really, at the end of the day, nothing more than a grumpy letter, but with our names on it,” Achilles said.

Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls, debated in favor, saying it was “the right thing to do.”

“So whether today’s discussion is just meaningless or pointless, I don’t see it that way,” Hostetler said. “I see it as the vital fabric to our society — that being the families, and everyone knows marriage is the linchpin to that.”

Idaho’s Constitution states that marriage between a man and a woman is the “only domestic legal union” the state would recognize. However, in 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Latta v. Otter ruled that Idaho’s law barring same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Sue Latta, the plaintiff in that case, testified in opposition to the memorial during a nearly two-hour-long committee hearing last week, the Lewiston Tribune previously reported.

The memorial passed the House with 15 Republicans joining the Democrats to oppose it.

The joint memorial will now head to the Senate.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.

How they voted

Yes: Brandon Mitchell-R, Heather Scott-R, Dale Hawkins-R, Kyle Harris-R, Charlie Shepherd-R

No: Lori McCann-R