Civil Marriage Applicants Treated Mostly with Civility

More than 380 same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in Iowa yesterday in 47 of the 99 counties. In Johnson County, 52 couples were issued civil marriage licenses at the County Recorder's office yesterday. Kim Painter, the County Recorder personally issued the licenses.

Protests were relatively minimal as officials around the state reported that those protesting same-sex marriage Monday were almost exclusively comprised of Iowans who simply dropped off petitions at county offices then quietly left without confronting gay couples.

A man prayed using rosary beads outside the courthouse in Council Bluffs.

In Orange City, a dozen opponents of gay marriage shivered on the steps of the Sioux County Courthouse.

One of the biggest groups of protesters was in Wayne County, with about 60 people. The group of mostly middle-aged residents gathered in a circle, prayed out loud, and sang a verse of "Amazing Grace" and entered the recorder's office to pray for her.

Wayne County Recorder Angela Horton objects to gay marriage. "There are recorders out there, like me, that think this goes against their beliefs," she said. "But we have to follow the code."

Licensed to Wed, But Still Not Equal

Today is the first day that same-sex couples can go to their local courthouse and apply for a marriage license.

Lambda Legal provides these details of what constitutes marriage in Iowa as of today:

_Marriage requirements: Two people, over 18, not already legally married, not closely related and legally competent to enter into a civil contract.

_License: Applicants must show proof of identity, pay $35 fee, and have a witness sign the application. Three-day waiting period before wedding may be performed, although this may be waived by judge.

_Ceremony: Must be in Iowa, with both parties, an officiate (judge or leader of a religious faith) and two witnesses present.

_If a same-sex couple have been legally married elsewhere, their marriage is valid in Iowa as of Monday. It is not yet clear if civil unions from another state or registered domestic partnerships will be recognized in Iowa.

_For a divorce, one party must have been a resident of Iowa for at least one year.

Despite the movement to change Iowa's constitution, same-sex couples still will not have the same rights as other married couples because the Defense of Marriage Act signed by Bill Clinton and approved by Senators Harkin and Grassley in 1996.

DOMA states:
1) No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2) The federal government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.

As a result, same-sex couples who are wed in a civil ceremony in Iowa do not have the same rights where taxes, benefits and other privileges if the federal government or other states' laws are involved. The Des Moines Register has this story.

Pulling Out the Stops

Grafton state senator Merlin Bartz is using the the state Towa Senate Republican Caucus website to encourage voters to petition county recorders to "appeal directly to you, our county recorder, to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on April 27th, 2009, and every day after, until such conflict between the Supreme Court’s opinion and the law is addressed by a VOTE OF THE PEOPLE OF
IOWA." On the website supporters are asked to distribute the petition to "anybody you feel who would be inclined to help in this endeavor" and to "send a copy for accountability purposes to the Iowa Family Policy Center, 1100 N. Hickory, Ste. 107, Pleasant Hill, IA 50327."

In response, former State Representative Ed Fallon and his wife Lynn's group I'm for Iowa "plan to deliver to Secretary of the Senate Mike Marshall at 11:15 this morning their formal ethics complaint against Senator Merlin Bartz for encouraging county recorders to break the law by refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples."

"For a state senator to use his office and public resources to encourage other elected officials to disobey a unanimous ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court is unconscionable, and possibly a violation of state law,” said Ed Fallon. “Thus, Lynn and I have filed a complaint with the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, Senator Jack Kibbie, inquiring as to whether Senator Bartz’s action is a violation of his oath of office.”

Meanwhile likely gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats will have a press conference at 11:30 today to pressure governor Chet Culver to use an executive order to stay Iowa county recorders from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning next Monday.

What The Other Side Says

There is no shortage of anger to the Iowa Supreme Court's decision concerning same-sex marriage rights as the quotes below highlight:

"Sen. Gronstal has formed a pact with the rabid homosexual rights lobby in Des Moines and is now working to ram their hostile agenda down your throat!"- Flyer from Iowa Biblical Families

"The Flood of 2008 is arguably the most destructive disaster that the state of Iowa has seen -- at least, that is, until last Friday."- Baptist Pastor from Cedar Rapids

"I believe this case is actually about going into churches and going in and attacking churches and saying you can't teach anything else."- Glenn Beck on Fox News (despite the Court's message that religious doctrine is unaffected)

"We believe the homosexual lifestyle is wrong... But we invite homosexuals to the church, and invite them to repent."- Rev. Keith Ratliff

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage is "outrageously wrong." He says the decision demonstrated "judicial arrogance."

Bryan English, spokesman for the conservative Iowa Family Policy Center: “Sure, we are disappointed. I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways, and yet the first thing we did after internalizing the decision was to walk across the street and begin the process of lobbying our legislators to let the people of Iowa vote. The Iowa marriage amendment needs to be brought to the floor for a vote before they adjourn for this session. This is an issue that will define their leadership, this is not a side issue, this is the core issue that they need to be addressing.”

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa: “I support traditional marriage. I voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton. It defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and prevents states from being forced to honor the decisions of other state courts. I also voted twice in 2006, in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor, for a joint resolution that would have amended the federal Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Now, to change what’s happened with the Iowa Supreme Court decision, the state legislature would have to take action.”

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa: “This is an unconstitutional ruling and another example of activist judges molding the Constitution to achieve their personal political ends. Iowa law says that marriage is between one man and one woman. If judges believe the Iowa legislature should grant same sex marriage, they should resign from their positions and run for office, not legislate from the bench … Along with a constitutional amendment, the legislature must also enact marriage license residency requirements so that Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca due to the Supreme Court’s latest experiment in social engineering.”

“The gay marriage movement has once again used the power of the courts to push an untruth on unwilling Iowans,” said Brian S. Brown, the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, a group formed in 2007 to preserve traditional marriage. “Same-sex unions are not marriages, and Iowans should not be forced by law to treat them as such.”

"Same-sex 'marriage' continues to be a movement driven by a liberal judicial elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. The casual dismissal of the facts of human biology and thousands of years of human history, simply to pander to a small band of social radicals, is bizarre and indefensible," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC).

It is my hope that state lawmakers continue to focus on the state's economic and long-term woes, rather than to give in to political pressure. I trust Iowans to be fair-minded, as no marriages have been hurt by the courts decision, I would like to believe that legislators will stay focused on those things that are more likely to endanger families, lack of jobs, health care, and economic stability.

Anti-Gay Protestors Clog Iowa Capitol

According to to Iowa Politics, "Hundreds of opponents and supporters of the Iowa Supreme Court’s Varnum v. Brien decision legalizing same-sex marriage descended on the Iowa Capitol Thursday morning and witnessed as Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy declined to call up a constitutional amendment to make marriage solely between a man and a woman."

In a movement to bring an ill-conceived amendment to the Iowa Constitution to the floor of the House, House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen made a "call of the House," and closed the chamber doors to not allow any legislators to leave.

Paulsen motioned that House Joint Resolution 6 which was in committee, calling for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, be placed before the body.

House Speaker Murphy said the motion to withdraw House Joint Resolution 6 out of committee and bring it to the floor was out of order, and the "call of the House" was out of order, as well.

Protestors led by former Rep. Danny Carroll, R-Grinnell were out in force. Carroll took Governor Culver to task saying he has “cozied up with the legal elite, the homosexual lobby” and “should resign or be replaced.”

“The truth is the Democrat leaders and the people who are calling the shots in the state Capitol don’t want a vote of this to go to the people because they know if they do they will be punished by the homosexual lobby,”

Carroll said. “Why won’t they even let the issue be debated?” Carroll asked. “What are they afraid of? They’re afraid of you. They’re afraid of what you think.”

In point of fact, the House under Republican leadership did pass a definition of marriage bill which was found unconstitutional last Friday by a unanimous State Supreme Court because it did not uphold equal protection under the current state Constitution.

Members of One Iowa counterprotested at the Capitol and encouraged supports to contact their state legislator's and call on them to ignore "Right-wing extremists... resorting to underhanded tactics in an attempt to undermine legislative leadership and take away the freedom to marry!"

Justice Prevails in Iowa

The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the 1998 ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

“The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution,” the justices said in a summary of their decision.

A rally was planned yesterday by One Iowa supporters at the Pentacrest on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City tonight at 5:30 pm regardless of the outcome. It looks like it will be quite a celebration now.

Justice For Iowa's Gays?

If Iowa's Supreme Court metes out justice in interpreting the law, tomorrow morning will be a banner day for the rights of gay couples living in Iowa. If the Court rules in favor of equality, Iowa would join Massachusetts and Connecticut in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry (Vermont currently allows civil unions). The decision that is due to be announced by down will say that gay couples have the right to marriage the same as other adults of consensual age.

According to an AP wire story:

Court officials today announced they plan to post the justices' opinion at the iowacourts.gov Web site at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

During oral arguments last year, attorneys arguing the same-sex marriage case before the high court framed the Varnum v. Brien case as one that pitted the ability to draw reasonable boundaries for society against infringing on the rights or a minority group.

At issue is a Polk County District Court ruling in a lawsuit brought by six same-sex couples that found the current state law unconstitutional. It defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

In seeking to overturn the district judge's decision, Assistant Polk County Attorney Roger Kuhl told the justices the basic societal underpinning of traditional marriage and family procreation would be undermined if they affirmed the 2007 district court ruling.

Conversely, Dennis Johnson, an attorney representing six gay and lesbian couples who brought suit after their 2005 marriage license applications were denied, said his clients were seeking the freedom of choice and marriage equality promised under Iowa's constitution.

According to One Iowa, "Rallies are currently being planned in the following cities: Ames, Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Decorah, Des Moines, Iowa City, Grinnell/Newton, Mason City, Quad Cities and Sioux City. Pending support from local organizers, additional cities may be added in the future. If you'd like to help organize a rally in your community, mark the check box on the sign up page or email organize@oneiowa.org."

Thank God for the Commie, Homo-Loving, Son's of Guns

When actor Sean Penn accepted his Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the slain San Francisco city supervisor, he proclaimed to the audience "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns." This evoked laughter from the audience as anti-gay protesters rallied outside the Kodak Theater. He then said: "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

More stirring than Penn's words were the words of the film's screenwriter Dustin Lance Black who reflected:

When I was thirteen years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope to… one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe, even, I could even fall in love and one day get married.

I wanna, I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am, even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us thirty years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government, or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that, no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.

In a country where civil rights are sacrosanct, how sad is it that two people, regardless of sexual-orientation, who choose a life together are not afforded the same rights by federal and state law. Fortunately justice speaks in a voice more eloquent than ignorance and, in Black's words "very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours" and we all will be the better for it.

The New Civil War

Gays wishing to gain the same rights as us heterosexuals have been dealt some bad breaks recently around the country, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts notwithstanding. Prop 8 in California is the most widely reported of the marriage defined as between one man and one woman (presumably of legal age) constitutional amendments. But beyond California, Arizona and Florida voters amended their state constitutions and joined the thirty odd states that have banned same sex marriages. Arkansas also made it illegal for gays to adopt.

Clearly the desire by gays and lesbians to have the same rights as the rest of us has hit a snag due to the sticking point about the "sanctity of marriage" being more important than civil rights. In the meantime, it seems shameful that two people in a committed relationship are not able to have the same protections of the law as those of us who are married do. And this is not a small thing, the difference between Civil Union protections and the privileges that accompany marriage are vastly different.

According to a report given to the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. General Accounting Office, here are a few of the 1,138 benefits the United States government provides to legally married couples:

Access to Military Stores
Assumption of Spouse’s Pension
Bereavement Leave
Immigration
Insurance Breaks
Medical Decisions on Behalf of Partner
Sick Leave to Care for Partner
Social Security Survivor Benefits
Sick Leave to Care for Partner
Tax Breaks
Veteran’s Discounts
Visitation of Partner in Hospital or Prison

In Iowa, a current court case may help to bridge the differences is based upon equal protection under the law. The idea that people who chose to get married can by the state. This does not mean that a church has to marry a gay or lesbian couple, if it is against their doctrine, but it does mean that gays and lesbians will be afforded the same protections under the law that any married couple has.

This issue causes some to draw a line in the sand and define marriage in terms that ignore the desire for at least 10% of Americans to be afforded the same rights as the other 90% of the rest of us.

This is What Democracy Looks Like - Part 4: A Mayor's Decision

Republican San Diego, CA mayor Jerry Sanders "leads with his heart" in authorizing City Council resolution supporting a challenge to California's gay marriage ban.

Says Fox News

In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships _ their very lives _ were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana," Sanders said.

The mayor, a former police chief who is up for re-election next year, acknowledged that many voters who supported his earlier stance might disagree with his shift, but said he had to do what he believed was right.

In 2000, 62 percent of San Diego voters endorsed a statewide measure to restrict marriage to a union between a man and woman.

The City Council voted Tuesday 5-3 in favor of joining other California cities to back a lawsuit pending before the California Supreme Court attempting to overturn the gay marriage ban.

Video

It Happened in Iowa--Briefly

The Act



The Political Response

An Observation: Our Bipolar Society

This week it was possible to see what our society's bipolar behaviors have led us to. On the one hand, Iowa has seen the first same sex marriage because a judge was wise enough to see the illegality (and hypocrisy) of denying the right to the pursuit of happiness as expressed in the Iowa and U.S. Constitutions.

Polk County Judge, Robert Hanson, ruled that the state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection. "Couples, such as plaintiffs, who are otherwise qualified to marry one another may not be denied licenses to marry or certificates of marriage or in any other way prevented from entering into a civil marriage ... by reason of the fact that both person comprising such a couple are of the same sex," he said.

This ruling will be appealed to the State Supreme Court and already the Iowa House Minority Leader, Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, has said the ruling illustrates the need for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. "I can't believe this is happening in Iowa," Rants said. "I guarantee you there will be a vote on this issue come January."

On the other hand, Idaho Senator, Larry Craig, may likely lose his seat because of his alleged hypocrisy about his own sexuality (and, of course, breaking the law regarding solicitation of a sex act from an undercover male police officer and the moral issue of cheating on his wife). In this case, the call for his resignation is due not entirely by a sense of justice, but a sense of embarrassment by his party. It seems that you can't be the party of family-values unless you avoid such snafus, even if you have other closeted members among your ranks.

We are a nation dogged by our obsession with other people's sex lives. What two consenting adults do or don't do fuels the tabloids and percolates the talk around the water cooler at work. We are a voyeuristic nation to be sure.

Clearly there is are differing ideas about what marriage is (including faithfulness) and who should be allowed to participate in it. But given that above all other things, our Constitution provides for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, equal protection under the law, and due process, it is equally clear that civil marriage must be the right of all who chose it (with the same rights and responsibilities). Judge Hanson may have a tough row to hoe with some, but he truly put the law above conventional thinking.

The fear of a those, who don't believe marriage for all should be legal for religious or other reasons, is that somehow it will "taint" them to live among those who love differently but are owed the same rights as anyone else stems either intolerance or ignorance. Neither of these are above the law.

Ban on Gay Marriage in Iowa Ruled Unconstitutional by Polk County Judge

From the Gazette

A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa's law banning gay marriage.

The ruling by Judge Robert Hanson concluded that the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and he ordered Polk County Recorder Tim Brien to issue marriage licenses to several gay couples.

"It's a moral victory for equal rights," said Des Moines lawyer Dennis Johnson, who represented six gay couples who filed suit after they were denied marriage licenses.

Camilla Taylor, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, said the ruling requires "full equality for all Iowans including gay and lesbian Iowans and their families."

"The Iowa Constitution has lived up to its promises of equality for everyone," she said.

The county is expected to appeal the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Johnson argued that Iowa has a long history of aggressively protecting civil rights in cases of race and gender. He said the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Legislature passed in 1998, contradicts previous court rulings regarding civil rights and should be struck down.

He said some of the case history in Iowa suggests that marriage is a fundamental right and as such, the state can't choose who people can or cannot marry.

Johnson said the Defense of Marriage law is "mean spirited" and was designed only to prohibit gays from marrying. He said it violates the state constitution's equal protection and due-process clauses.

Lambda Legal, which spearheaded a same-sex marriage drive across the country, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the gay and lesbian couples in Polk County District Court on Dec. 13, 2005.

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the issue is not for a judge to decide.