The future of same-sex marriage was a focus for most of the speakers and the audience gathered in a central Iowa church this weekend. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments tomorrow (Tuesday) in a case that could make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was the next-to-last speaker at Saturday’s gathering of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. Cruz told the crowd Christians are “called to stand and fight” on this issue.

2008 Iowa Caucus winner Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, said Christians who believe in traditional marriage are under attack. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the program’s first speaker, said “thousands of years of human history” prove the family is the “most basic cell of society.”

An A-B-C/Washington Post poll conducted nationally in mid-April found 61 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage and some in the G-O-P have said they hope the party’s presidential nominating contest would focus on other issues. In 2009, Iowa became the third state in the country where same-sex marriages were legal and, over the past six years, the issue has dimmed for many. However, it remains a key rallying point for Christian conservatives in the G-O-P and they are an important voting block in the Iowa Caucuses.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)