Iowa is Going to Beat Us? Seriously?

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The Iowa Supreme Court has ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriages. This morning, the court upheld a lower court's 2007 ruling calling the state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional. That means gay Iowans will be able to marry soon — sounds like maybe by the end of the month.

But wait, what about civil unions? Couldn't Iowa just give gays civil unions instead of marriage?

Here's what Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady had to say about it, from an article in the Des Moines Register:

Iowa’s gay marriage ban “is unconstitutional, because the county has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage,” Cady wrote in the 69-page opinion that seemed to dismiss the concept of civil unions as an option for gay couples.

“A new distinction based on sexual orientation would be equally suspect and difficult to square with the fundamental principles of equal protection embodied in our constitution,” Cady wrote.

Are we really going to let these Midwestern cornhuskers beat us to the punch? This seems like a matter of pride to me. C'mon, Vermonters. Think about our reputation!

Comments

[Iowa?]

The first person I encountered after coming out 12 years ago was a wonderful man I met online who lived in Iowa. He helped me through so much. He used to say how lucky I was to live in Vermont because it's such a liberal state. Several years ago he moved to the Netherlands to marry his partner. We've lost touch but I'm wondering what he thinks about Iowa now and the fact they beat Vermont.

[?]

Is this really a contest? I also thought Vermont's reputation centers around freedom of thought, not being herded by political group-think from the local weekly...

[!]

Of course it's not a contest! You're joking right?

[?]

you did read the post, right? it's even in the title... what are you (!) talking about?