Tea Party rally focuses in gay marriage in Iowa

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - About 35 people gathered for a Tea Party rally in Council Bluffs calling for a ban on gay marriage and stricter abortion laws in Iowa.

Republican legislator Kim Pearson, of Pleasant Hill, was among the speakers at Saturday afternoon's gathering at the Mid-America Center. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Pearson said a ban would be quicker to pass than a constitutional amendment.

In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a state law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violated the constitutional right of equal protection. Voters removed three of those justices in November after a campaign targeted their support of the ruling.

Pearson and two of her colleagues have drafted legislation to impeach the remaining four justices.