April gay iowa
On this day 10 years ago, an Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalized homosexual marriage in the state
The Iowa Supreme Court on April 3, 2009, unanimously overturned a 10-year-old outright ban on gay marriage in the state and allowed same-sex couples to marry.
While the judgment left it up to churches to decide who would be allowed to marry under their roofs, the court's ruling in the case of Varnum v. Brien made Iowa the third state in the nation to establish marriage equality.
This ruling catapulted the state into a growing conversation around marriage equality and rights for LGBTQ people that would not see a federal resolution until the Supreme Court struck down homosexual marriage bans across the nation in 2015.
Iowans' collective views on legalizing male lover marriage have steadily changed over the years, with 46% of Iowa Poll respondents ambivalent on the issue in 1996 to 62% responding that marriage should only be between gay couples in 2008.
In February 2014, 34% of respondents to the Iowa Poll claimed to be disappointed that Iowa allowed same-sex marriage while 28% were proud of the decision and 36% said it didn't matter much to them.
David Twombley, who along with his significant other , Lar
DES MOINES – Gay marriage, seemingly the province of the nation's two coasts, is just weeks away from becoming legal in the heartland and apparently it will be years before social conservatives hold a chance to halt it.
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit that challenged Iowa's forbid against gay marriage, react after the Iowa Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage, Friday April 3, 2009 in Des Moines, Iowa. [Agencies] |
The county attorney who defended the law said he would not pursue a rehearing. The only recourse for opponents appeared to be a constitutional amendment, which couldn't receive on the ballot until 2012 at the earliest.
"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways," said a dejected Bryan English, spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, a conservative group that opposes same-sex marriage.In the meantime, same-sex marriage opponents may try to enact residency requirements for marriage so t
April 3, 2009: Iowa court asserts gays can marry
- Sasha Issenberg
- Apr 3, 2021
- 2 min read
ON THIS Evening IN 2009…
The Iowa Supreme Court governed that state statute limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples unfairly excludes "disfavored class of persons from a supremely vital civil institution."
In behind 2005, attorneys in the Chicago office of Lambda Legal had sued Polk County recorder Timothy Brien on behalf of six Des Moines-area same-sex couples. They had all requested marriage licenses over the course of several months, and were rejected by Brien’s office, citing a 1998 law specifying in the state’s family that “only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.” As cases moved through state courts in California, Recent York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the Iowa litigation received little coverage beyond the state’s borders.
In 2007, a county judge ruled on summary verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, overturning the 1998 commandment as unconstitutional. Evaluate Robert Hanson’s command took effect immediately, unleashing a stampede among same-sex couples newly eligible to marry in Polk County. (Only one, a pair of male Iowa Mention University under
Before same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide, couples came to Decorah
Jessica Cummins and C.J. Lucke decided to get married in 2010. But Cummins was living in Alabama and Lucke was in California, and neither state had legalized same sex marriage.
So Lucke had to do a little bit of research.
"So Massachusetts was doing same sex marriage; they were the first one. I thought for sure, like California, Hawaii, that these would be the states. And so I Google online and I get Iowa," she said.
In April 2009, Iowa became the third state legalize same-sex marriage, and the first outside of the northeast to do so. Lucke stumbled on “Welcome in Decorah," a website with facts on how same-sex couples could come to the northeast Iowa town for their weddings. Lucke adv got in touch with the website’s founder.
"I said, 'we're going to arrive and elope. We don't know anyone. Can you help us?'" Lucke said. "And so she got the officiant who's now passed away, but he was a great guy. She and her husband were our witnesses. There was a guy who played guitar that was a friend of theirs."
Di Yin
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Courtesy of C.J. Lucke and Jessica Cummins
Welcome in Decorah founder
Iowa: 'The Gay Marriage Mecca'?
April 3, 2009 -- A Republican congressman from Iowa warned Friday that the state could turn into "the gay marriage Mecca" if the state legislature does not begin restricting marriage licenses to in-state residents.
The statement from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, which followed the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous verdict striking down a mention ban on same-sex marriage, underscored the emotional authority the issue holds for social conservatives in the state, which will carry the GOP's first presidential nominating contest in 2012.
Iowa is now the third state where same-sex attracted and lesbian couples are permitted to marry. The other two are Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Conservatives fond King are pushing for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
"It is the Iowa legislature's responsibility to pass the Marriage Amendment to the Iowa Constitution, clarifying that marriage is between one man and one gal, to give the dominance that the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself back to the people of Iowa," said King.
Given that Iowa is the state which kicks off the presidential challenge, several Republicans who a