UPDATE: After DOMA Ruling, Vote on Gay Marriage in Iowa or Give Up Fight?

Updated at noon:

Together, two prominent Dallas County Republican activists reacting to today’s high court ruling striking down DOMA epitomize a battle raging inside  the Republican Party.

Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart is cheering the ruling, saying it’s another sign the GOP needs to abandon its fight against gay marriage as a lost cause and a divisive issue that drives away younger voters.

State Rep. Rob Taylor disagrees, saying the 5-4 decision holding DOMA as unconstitutional usurps states’ rights and will likely be a push for Iowa to revisit the issue of same-sex marriage.

“My personal viewpoint is I think this is another reflection of federal power,” said Taylor, a West Des Moines Republican. “It's very important for the citizens of Iowa to vote on how we define marriage.”

Airhart, however, said the issue of gay marriage is a losing issue for the Republican Party.

“A segment of the Republican Party has fought the war on the issue of marriage for many years now, and in my humble opinion, they have lost,” said Airhart, who lives in Waukee. “ It is time to welcome those that chose civil marriage into our Grand Old Party and stop waging this war.”

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Airhart says he’s a Republican because he believes in limited government, free enterprise, personal freedoms and the pursuit of happiness.

“My wife and I have been married for seven years, and I know that choosing a partner in life could not be more central to personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “Quietly, I think many good Republicans have differed with those leading the fight against marriage equality for a long time. Now is the time for the party to accept those that choose civil marriage, and this needs to happen without  vilifying them.”

Taylor said he will be surprised if lawmakers don’t respond to the court’s rulings on DOMA and Proposition 8 with legislation to re-define marriage in Iowa.

The State Senate has blocked any action to put gay marriage on a statewide ballot, Taylor said, and he believes that will no longer be acceptable to Iowans. "Legislators are obligated to respect the people we represent."

Taylor disagrees with those who say that marriage should be defined across the country for uniformity. As a strict constitutionalist he believes states' rights trump federal rights.

"That is a state right, it affects us locally, it affects us more locally than at the federal level.

He acknowledged that gay marriage is divisive issue that won’t be easily resolved.

“It is time to bring people together. It won’t always be easy or popular, and we won’t always have everybody on our side, but we must do this. Republicans can disagree amongst ourselves, and when we do we must respect the opposing view. Regardless of your perspective on the issues, we can do this and still be good republicans.

(This update includes additional reporting by Deb Belt, Patch associate regional editor.)

Previously, Patch reported:

Iowa’s first openly gay senator said today’s 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional is  a “watershed moment” that is as significant for as gay couples as Brown v. Board of Education was for African-Americans.

“This is going to change the landscape for millions of Americans who have been denied the rights Iowans have had the opportunity to enjoy since the Varnum decision in our state,” said Sen. Matt  McCoy, a Des Moines Democrat whose district includes  a large part of West Des Moines.

DOMA, which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized in states such as Iowa,  serves “no legitimate purpose,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion, Huffington Post reported.

“By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” he wrote.

Kennedy was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito all filed dissenting opinions.

DOMA, which President Bill Clinton signed in 1996, prevented same-sex couples whose marriages are recognized by their home state from receiving the hundreds of benefits available to other married couples under federal law.  The current court challenge game when plaintiff Edie Windsor, 84, sued the federal government after the Internal Revenue Service denied her refund request for the $363,000 in federal estate taxes she paid after her spouse, Thea Spyer, died in 2009.

DISCUSS: What do you think about the Supreme Court’s decision this morning? How does it affect America?

“It’s going to become easier for states to adopt non-discrimination policies,” McCoy said. “This decision is indicative of a movement being embraced by a majority of Americans, and clearly the battles yet to be fought are going to be easier.”

The ruling means that same-sex married couples will have the same access to more than 1,000 federal benefits as Americans in traditional marriages.

In a statement, One Iowa Executive Director Donna Red Wing said the ruling is "an enormous victory and a joyous day for loving, married couples and their families."

She said:

"Today, the Supreme Court lifted a huge burden from Iowa families by allowing them to fully share in the freedom to marry. For thousands of married gay and lesbian couples, this ruling means that they can better protect one another and their children because they will finally be included in the federal safety net, with more than 1,100 federal benefits from which they were previously excluded. 

"We also congratulate our friends in California who now once again enjoy the freedom to marry. Fundamental freedoms such as marriage should never be stripped away by a popular vote as they were in California. We celebrate the fact that same-sex couples can now legally marry in 13 states--including Iowa--and Washington, DC. This means more than 93 million Americans--a third of the population – live in a state with the freedom to marry. Our nation's highest court stood on the right side of history today, demonstrating why our courts matter."