The Des Moines Register:

There’s no connection at all between Iowa’s debate over gay marriage rights and the death of Waterloo teen Marcellus Andrews, the governor said today.

“I think it’s inappropriate to try to link these two,” Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said during his weekly press conference at the Capitol.

A reporter said the homicide could have been related to the sexual orientation of the victim, then asked Branstad what his role was as governor to control the tenor of the debate over gays rights, given the heat of the controversy over the marriage issue here.

... Waterloo police have stressed that they think the beating was prompted by a long-running dispute. Andrews happened to be sitting on the porch of a friend when the dispute broke out, they said.

... Gay marriage has been legal in Iowa since an Iowa Supreme Court ruling in 2009, but social conservatives continue to push the split-controlled Iowa Legislature for the right to vote to change the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.