Iowa GOP chairman: Accepting ‘so-called same sex marriage’ harms the party

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Republican Party of Iowa chairman A.J. Spiker on Wednesday denounced members of his own party who accepted same-sex marriage.

“While inclusion is important, elected Republicans (we all know the most recent example) and National/State Party leaders who embrace so-called same sex marriage are doing grave harm to our Party and the whole of society,” he said in an email to radio host Steve Deace. “Lets not forget, so-called same sex marriage is an irreconcilable difference with the Republican Party’s largest constituency… Committed Christians.”

Spiker was likely referring to Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who announced last week that he supported the right of same-sex couples to wed.

The Republican Party of Iowa has fought unsuccessfully to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

In 2009, the state’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman was unconstitutional. Republicans launched a campaign to oust all the justices, who face a retention vote in Iowa every eight years. Justices Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit were voted out in 2010.