I Was Part of 303 Creative's Case. I Back Gay Marriage—but SCOTUS Is Right

Contents:

• ON THIS DAY 10 YEARS AGO, AN IOWA SUPREME COURT LG LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE THE STATE
• IOWA SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE
• IOWA GAY MARRIAG BEG AS LG TAK EFFECT
• COUPL IOWA'S GAY MARRIAGE SE REFLECT
• IOWA SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE IOWA
• GAY MARRIAGE
• IOWA GAY MARRIAG ON HOLD
• IOWA GAY MARRIAGE LG A TURNG POT FOR JTIC
• IOWA ISSU MARRIAGE LICENS TO GAYS
• FROM THE ARCHIV: IOWA GAY UPLE'S LAWSU STANDS FOR MORE THAN THE RIGHT TO MARRY
• SON OF IOWA LBIANS FIGHTS GAY MARRIAGE BAN
• IOWA COURT VOIDS GAY MARRIAGE BAN
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
• I WAS PART OF 303 CREATIVE'S CASE. I BACK GAY MARRIAGE—BUT SCOTUS IS RIGHT

ON THIS DAY 10 YEARS AGO, AN IOWA SUPREME COURT LG LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE THE STATE

Nearly eight years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and several months after Congrs dified gay nuptials, Iowa legislators proposed banng such unns their state nstutn. Brien ma Iowa the third state the natn to tablish marriage lg tapulted the state to a growg nversatn around marriage equaly and rights for LGBTQ people that would not see a feral rolutn until the Supreme Court stck down gay marriage bans across the natn 2015. Iowans' llective views on legalizg gay marriage have steadily changed over the years, wh 46% of Iowa Poll rponnts ambivalent on the issue 1996 to 62% rpondg that marriage should only be between same-sex upl Febary 2014, 34% of rponnts to the Iowa Poll claimed to be disappoted that Iowa allowed same-sex marriage while 28% were proud of the cisn and 36% said didn't matter much to them.

The Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage Friday a unanimo and emphatic cisn that mak Iowa the third state — and first the natn's heartland — to allow same-sex upl to wed. "We are firmly nvced the excln of gay and lbian people om the stutn of civil marriage do not substantially further any important ernmental objective, " the Supreme Court wrote. Separatn of powersThe se had been workg s way through the urts sce 2005, when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights anizatn, filed a lawsu on behalf of six gay and lbian upl Iowa.

John Logan, a soclogy profsor at Brown Universy, said Iowa's stat as a largely ral, Midwt state uld enforce an argument that gay marriage is no longer a ge issue. "But as extends to stat like Iowa, and as attus toward gay marriage have evintly changed, then people will look at as an example of broad acceptance, " Logan said.

IOWA SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE

Gay-marriage opponents have no other legal optns to appeal the se to the state or feral level bee they were not parti to the lawsu, and there is no feral issue raised the se, Sarne said. Senate Majory Lear Mike Gronstal, a Democrat, said state lawmakers were unlikely to nsir gay marriage legislatn this legislative ssn, which is expected to end wh weeks. Months after Congrs affirmed gay marriage wh the historic Rpect for Marriage Act, a group of eight Iowa Republins are lookg to go the oppose directn, troducg a bill that would regnize marriage as "the solemnized unn between one human blogil male and one human blogil female.

IOWA GAY MARRIAG BEG AS LG TAK EFFECT

Joni Ernst fends gay-marriage vote as GOP unty groups move to censure herHoe File 508, which is also sponsored by eight Republins, would say that Iowa regniz marriage as "a sacred relig sacrament" and no Iowan shall be pelled to regnize any same-sex marriage as would state that Iowa nsirs portns of the feral Rpect for Marriage Act to be null and void for vlatg the First Amendment's relig protectns and the Tenth Amendment by encroachg on the state's powers.

Same-sex upl Iowa began filg marriage license applitns Monday after a state Supreme Court lg legalizg gay unns took effect, and the first legal gay weddgs took place shortly Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were clared "legally married" by pastor Pat Esperanaza durg a ceremony ont of Polk County admistrative offic D Mo.

COUPL IOWA'S GAY MARRIAGE SE REFLECT

Wag for buildg to openIn D Mo, about a dozen gay and lbian upl waed the ra for the Polk County admistrative buildg to Lan, 35, and his partner Andrew Mahoney-Lan, 32, were first le.

IOWA SUPREME COURT LEGALIZ GAY MARRIAGE IOWA

In eastern Iowa, Johnson County Rerr Kim Pater, Iowa's only openly gay rerr, said that when she saw the urt's claratn "we rolled open our wdows and we've been by. A nstutnal nventn uld be lled earlier, but that is 's same-sex marriage se began 2005 when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights anizatn, sued on behalf of six gay and lbian Iowa has a history of beg at the foreont on social issu.

Six years ago, six same-sex upl won a urt se securg the right to legally marry Iowa, makg the state the third the untry to legalize gay today's historic U.

GAY MARRIAGE

Supreme Court lg, 36 other stat and the District of Columbia had regnized same-sex marriage as a morng, the high urt led that marriage is a fundamental Amerin right, and said gays and lbians are protected unr the 14th Amendment om state marriage bans.

IOWA GAY MARRIAG ON HOLD

DES MOINES – Gay upl began makg weddg plans Friday after the Iowa Supreme Court hand them a landmark victory that mak Iowa the first Midwt state to legalize same-sex marriag. Crics warned the cisn would make Iowa a gay-marriage mag sce the state do not have a rincy requirement for upl applyg for a license and wag three days before exchangg their vows.

“We are firmly nvced the excln of gay and lbian people om the stutn of civil marriage do not substantially further any important ernmental objective, ” Jtice Mark Cady wrote the unanimo opn. Contact the wrer: (515) 243-7220 or Iowa Supreme Court Rulg legalizg gay marriage Iowa Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law & Government Bs & Law ban samex Iowa Supreme Court Jtic. It would also have to be passed another legislative ssn and then by Wednday, hundreds of stunts across Iowa left their classrooms to participate a 'We Say Gay' walkout to prott the recent slate of bills they say discrimate agast the rights of LGBTQ youth.

IOWA GAY MARRIAGE LG A TURNG POT FOR JTIC

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn.

IOWA ISSU MARRIAGE LICENS TO GAYS

” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

FROM THE ARCHIV: IOWA GAY UPLE'S LAWSU STANDS FOR MORE THAN THE RIGHT TO MARRY

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

SON OF IOWA LBIANS FIGHTS GAY MARRIAGE BAN

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

IOWA COURT VOIDS GAY MARRIAGE BAN

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE

Two men were married outsi a mister's home the state's first legal same-sex weddg Friday morng, ls than 24 hours after a judge threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage and about two hours before the same judge put his lg on was a narrow wdow of 20 gay upl had applied for marriage licens by 11 a.

"The men then kissed and than an hour later, the unty stopped acceptg morng, a stream of gay upl filed applitns at the rerr's Farlow and Larissa Boeck, stunts at Iowa State Universy, said they got to the unty rerr's office at 5 a. "I started to cry bee we so badly want to be able to be protected if somethg happens to one of , " Rethmeier Hanson's lg, he orred the Polk County rerr to issue marriage licens to six gay upl who filed the lawsu. "Cala Taylor, an attorney wh Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights anizatn, said the lg requir "full equaly for all Iowans, cludg gay and lbian Iowans and their fai.

I WAS PART OF 303 CREATIVE'S CASE. I BACK GAY MARRIAGE—BUT SCOTUS IS RIGHT

Sarne said the se will be appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, which uld refer to the Iowa Court of Appeals, nsir the se self or ci not to hear the Mo lawyer Dennis Johnson reprented the six gay upl who filed the lawsu after they were nied marriage argued that Iowa has a long history of aggrsively protectg civil rights s of race and genr. Johnson said the law vlat the state nstutn's equal protectn and due-procs Legal, which spearhead a same-sex marriage drive across the untry, filed the lawsu on behalf of the gay and lbian upl Polk County District Court on Dec.

Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the issue is not for a judge to Cunngham, a spokwoman for the nservative Iowa Fay Policy Center, which oppos gay marriage, said the cisn will be appealed.