This morning

Gay marriage was passed today in Iowa... yikes!
What do people think?

April 3, 2009

Iowa Supreme Court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional Iowa Supreme Court upholds Hanson's ruling; marriage no longer limited to one man, one woman The Iowa Supreme Court this morning struck down a 1998 state law that limits marriage to one man and one woman. The decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the fourth nationwide, to allow same-sex marriages. Lawyers for Lambda Legal, a gay rights group that financed the court battle and represented the couples, had hoped to use a court victory to demonstrate acceptance of same-sex marriage in heartland America. Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, filed the original lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses. The case, Varnum vs. Brien, involves six same-sex Iowa couples who sued Polk County Recorder and Registrar Timothy Brien in 2005, after his office denied them marriage licenses. District Court Judge Robert Hanson in August 2007 ruled in favor...a ruling that came just a few months after Faith In America's Call To Courage campaign in Ames, Iowa in May 2007. The Polk County attorney's office appealed Hanson's decision to the Iowa Supreme Court on the grounds that the county had followed the "clear, unambiguous language" of state law - setting the stage for today's ruling. Hanson answered a call to courage and in doing so cited another courageous civil rights icon in his ruling. In making his ruling, Hanson referred to the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia in which state laws banning interracial marriage were declared unconstitutional. Judge Hanson argued that same-sex couples cannot be denied the right to marry simply because marriage for same-sex couples has never existed in Iowa. Because interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia in 1967 didn't prevent the U.S. Supreme Court from ruling that Richard and Mildred Loving, a mixed-race couple, had been deprived the right of equal protection. In its ruling, the Supreme Court declared the freedom to marry the person of choice to be a basic civil right that should not be infringed upon by the state. Mildred Loving stated in June 2007 that she believed gay and lesbian Americans should have the same right that she and husband fought so hard to gain. The Iowa Supreme Court justices apparently sided with the wisdom of this courageous woman and civil rights icon.