WATERLOO - Some Iowa Republican lawmakers say they are concerned with the Massachusetts court ruling Tuesday that found same-sex couples have the right to marry, and will urge Congress to take action.

State Rep. Betty De Boef, a What Cheer Republican, said she'll sponsor a resolution in the Iowa House in support of the federal Marriage Protection Act.

The act, offered last by U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., would allow states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted in another state.

De Boef said she is concerned that if Iowa couples were to be married in Massachusetts and return to the state, Iowa would have to accept their marriage as valid.

"I don't think we have any … idea what kind of earthquake it would create," De Boef said.

The ruling reverses the teachings of the Bible that marriage is between a man and a woman, said De Boef, who rejects the idea that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

"It's a choice that they make to pursue a certain lifestyle," she said.

Sen. Ken Veenstra, an Orange City Republican, said he was upset with the Massachusetts ruling and will sponsor the resolution in the Senate.

"I personally think it's a disaster for future generations," he said of the ruling. "It just opens the floodgate to all kinds of perverted relationships that are, I believe, very unhealthy for our socieity."

House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican, expects to hear a lot from Iowans about the Massachusetts ruling in the coming days and said the resolution is a "common sense thing to do."

"It's the representative view of a vast majority of people," Rants said.

But Sen. Bill Dotzler, a Waterloo Democrat, blasted the idea as "election-year politics" by Republican lawmakers.

"It's very disappointing, when we're looking at going into this session to really try to address some very serious issues, they're going to spend their time in the Legislature dealing with things that trip people's triggers and really doesn't have an effect directly on their lives," Dotzler said.

Dotzler, who co-sponsored a gay rights bill during the last session, said the Massachusetts ruling shows the issue is a matter of civil rights for gays and lesbians and that Iowa ought to recognize all marriages performed in other states.

Paul Danielsen of ACCESSline, a Waterloo publication which bills itself as "Iowa's Gay Newspaper," said the issue is a matter of gay and lesbian couples having the same legal rights as straight married couples.

"When we live in our homes for 15, 20 years together, and one dies, we shouldn't have to pay … inheritance tax on the other half of the property," Danielsen said.

Danielsen is the paper's business manager, and his partner of 14 years, John T. Wilson, serves as editor. Both were in straight marriages for more than 20 years before they met.

The issue of gay marriages should not be a religious one, Danielsen said, because America was founded on the separation of church and state.

"They're afraid we're going to run straight people's marriages, and quite frankly, I think they're capable of ruining their own," Danielsen said of people who are opposed to gay marriage.