Holy shit: same-sex marriage in a vowel state! According to the Advocate:
The Iowa supreme court ruled unanimously this morning that gays and lesbians in the state have the right to marry, the Des Moines Register reports.
“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.
According to the decision, “the language in Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman must be stricken from the statute, and the remaining statutory language must be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.”
In other s-s marriage news, the Vermont house yesterday voted 95-52 in favour (the senate had previously given the nod to the bill, with an overwhelmingly positive 26-4 vote). The governor of Vermont is threatening to veto the bill. This means that some time next week, the house and senate will have to revote. Given that the governor is Republican, and that such challenge votes usually follow party lines, the result should be interesting: 96 representatives are Democrats, 47 Republican, 5 Progressive Party and 2 Independents. Anyone want to take a bet? Read more here.
Personally, my guess is that pretty soon New England will be a s-s marriage corridor, sort of like a wildlife corridor, permitting married dykes to roam free from Canada to New Jersey, preying on housewives who have strayed from the herd…
Nicola Griffith 
Here in Missouri, we used to say that “the best thing out of Iowa is I-35” but I have to tip my hat to my neighbors to the north for having judges not afraid to use Midwestern common sense to make a wise and just decision. I hope the domino effect takes place here in the Heartland.
I…I am like, embarrassed to be living in a “civil rights” time. How are people voting to oppose equal rights? But it happens. & the politicians opposing those rights will stay in power till they die of old age, just like the racists who opposed civil rights for black dudes. It makes me so freaking annoyed.
Do you suppose eventually we’ll have two “Free to Marry” corridors down either coast? Or is same-sex marriage going to smash to bits on the southern end of the East Coast?
“…permitting married dykes to roam free from Canada to New Jersey, preying on housewives who have strayed from the herd…”Now, that is a story I’d like to read. Or perhaps just be a part of.
Now they get it:equal protection. And everybody can still live their very own lives the way they want. Judges who understand the law are my cup of tea.
I really love this. You make me laugh. x“permitting married dykes to roam free from Canada to New Jersey, preying on housewives who have strayed from the herd…”
“Personally, my guess is that pretty soon New England will be a s-s marriage corridor, sort of like a wildlife corridor, permitting married dykes to roam free from Canada to New Jersey, preying on housewives who have strayed from the herd…”I’m cackling down in the mid-atlantic states plotting how to migrate northward.
lolol yes we in Scotland never thought we’d want to take advice from Iowa … but here we’re campaigning right now for equal marriage rights instead of the civil partnership stuff we have!! In Scotland our campaign also includes to campaign for straight couples to opt for civil partnership instead of marriage if they want too – an option currently only available to gays.
You’re probably right, Nicola. My partner and I had that very conversation about the NE as a marriage-rights corridor just the other day.Word needs to get out that Maine is currently in a marriage rights fight of its own.Love the imagery of free-range housewives!!
I think most places will do civil partnership stuff first, realise after a handful of years that it’s not so scary and doesn’t cost that much, and then quietly move towards marriage.If Obama gets a second term, I think DOMA will fall. There will be federal civil rights legislation. A few years after that, marriage.Naturally, I’d be thrilled if things happened faster than that. I think it’s likely that DADT will fall by, say 2011, and once the military permits same-sexiness, the govt. has nothing to lean on regarding the denial of marriage.