Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Friday, April 03, 2009

The Iowa Supreme Court Friday ruled that the state law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional - upholding a lower court ruling!!!!!!!!!

This is a huge victory and shows great progress. The fact is, prohibiting gay people from marrying is cruel and does nothing to help heterosexual families. Instead, it just denies their gay sons and daughters equality under the law.

Congratulations to all who made this victory a reality.

15 Comments:

wow this is awesome!!!! i can't believe it. and it was unanimous! i think i'll use exclamation points all day!!!!
posted by nimbusthegreat, at 4/03/2009 1:05 PM

Those damn Republican-appointed activist judges, makin' rulings based on "evidence" and "the constitution". Bah!!

;)
posted by Ryan Grant Long, at 4/03/2009 7:57 PM

Truly amazing and Iowa of all places. It puts New York State to shame and that proves ours is not as progressive as others'. I think our state will have a tougher time getting it passed with several conservative democrats vowing to vote with the republicans to defeat it. Of all states, you would have thought New York would have been the first.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/04/2009 1:14 PM

It's depressing that a state like Iowaq--IOWA--can do something like this and aother states with larger LGBTQnpopulations are forced to remain in the dark ages! The fact that it was Republican-appointed judges that judged the thing on its constitutional merits and voted in favour of marriage equality is mind-blwoing.

It may start the ball rolling in our direction. I mean who in the hell wants to be more behind the time than some state in the Corn Belt? lol

My congrats to everyone in Iowa. Let's hope it's the sign of more marriage equality victories across the country.
posted by Merlyn, at 4/05/2009 4:42 AM

I don't know why you are all so surprised about the Iowa decision. The tune from Music Man, "Iowa Stubborn," truly depicts the independent spirit of Iowans. I have always enjoyed the company of Iowans and found them to be unique in outlook to politics and life in general. And with that thought I join you all in toasting the beginning of the ripple effect that this victory (finally good news!) will have on SSM.
posted by richard schillen, at 4/05/2009 9:48 AM

"I don't know why you are all so surprised about the Iowa decision"

richard~ that was also my first reaction upon reading the comments. I'm surprised they are surprised, lol. There is a reason states in the midwest are used for new product testing grounds and opinion research ~ the people are known for their no BS, tell it like it is opinion. No sugar coating words to avoid dissention. They are less likely to be political conformists (on either side of the aisle), and are independent free-thinkers. You can't say that about many NYers/CAians. Those states may contain the largest number in population, but not all residents are "progressive" thinkers.

As a true independent (I can't conform to either party) myself, I find this news enlightening. Also, I'm a twin citian, which is far from small town Iowa, but not NY, either. I believe there is hope in my state as well as this subject has been a top talking point as of late. But I find it very strange that one openly gay state senator is against gay marriage.

Anyway, yeah~ maybe NY could learn a few lessons from Iowa on progression, lol.

And, in light of the bad news during the past couple of days, shootings of innocents in the US and gay men in Iraq, this is one bright spot...
posted by TrevorHere, at 4/05/2009 2:04 PM

Go Iowa! New York and California have too many of the minority groups who are so against gay marriage, so it won't happen as quickly in either of those two. (I bet lily-white Vermont will be next).
posted by Joey, at 4/06/2009 1:46 AM

New York state is not as progressive as many people think it is, least of all New York City. Personally, even if the downturn in the economy hadn't happened, do any of us really believe that we'd have marriage equality in our state? I don't. There's no political will to do it and I'd be more than suprised if we achieved it before 2012. You can bet the dems will find other excuses to delay passing legislation even if they retain the power they currently have in the 2010's mid terms, traditionally a time when some seats are lost to the majority party. New York will be left behind. New Jersey will get there before we do. Vermont is iffy!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/06/2009 7:57 AM

Joey, unless I missed something ~ which is entirely possible since I haven't been following or cared about this until recently ~ it isn't only minority groups opposing in CA, but also the very religious and older people.

Didn't a panel of judges in CA originally deem to deny gay marriage was unconstitutional, but the people voted ~ those described above vote yes on prop 8?

So far in Iowa only the judges voted denying gay marriage as unconstitutional, it wasn't voted yes or no by the people, yet. Likely the people of Iowa would do the same, but we don't know for sure.

So you can't really compare the negative resident vote in CA during the elections to the recent positive judge vote in Iowa. Acceptance by the majority is what we strive. While it's progress, the ultra religious people, etc in Iowa will also attempt to ban it.

As described in my previous post I believe this is awesome, but I'm also trying to keep perspective. I guess I'm going to have to do my "homework" on this, because I'm missing some facts here.
posted by TrevorHere, at 4/06/2009 10:38 AM

The thing is, why should the public have a say in who is entitled to what when it comes to basic civil rights. If we left everything to the public to decide on, there would be no civil rights for African Americans and Roe v. Wade would not be the law of the land. Civil rights should never be put to referenda, ever. If that had happened in those countries where marriage equality is the law, there would be no same-sex marriage. Religious bigots and antigay people should never have the power over a minority in a democracy. The courts are the appropriate place to settle discrimination suits not the ballot box which then becomes mob rule.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/07/2009 9:13 AM

Robert, I agree with you. I guess I would just like to see some progress on the public fron too, but obviously a long time away...
posted by TrevorHere, at 4/07/2009 12:42 PM

Just heard that Vermont's governor's veto on SSM has been defeated and Vermont now is the fourth state legalizing same sex marriage. Congratulations to everyone!
posted by richard schillen, at 4/07/2009 1:18 PM

Richard, yes, wonderful news, two states in a matter of days. The first state to legislate for marriage equality and NY thought it would be the first. Absolutely amazing with a majority vote to override the bigot Douglas' veto. The rest of the anti same-sex marriage haters are going to have a tough time trying to overturn that one, no Prop. H8 in Vermont! This surely puts the dems and Obama on notice. Now on to NY, not going to be an easy battle if at all it ever succeeds. I think New Jersey will get there before we do. NY may take much longer unfortunately.
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