Gay marriage goes before Iowa Supreme Court

[ccharles000]

(Des Moines, Iowa) The Iowa Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in a case challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Both sides on the marriage issue will be given 30 minutes on Tuesday to make their arguments. It is the first state Supreme Court to hear a same-sex marriage case since California voters last month overturned a high court ruling that struck down that state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

The Iowa case centers around a state appeal of a ruling by a Polk County judge that struck down a state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Six same-sex Iowa couples went to court in 2005 after the Polk County recorder denied them marriage licenses.

Last year County Judge Robert Hanson ruled that the law violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.

Less than two hours after the the ruling, two Des Moines men applied for a marriage license, found a judge to waive the waiting period, and were married.

Hanson then stayed his ruling until the state could appeal it to the Iowa Supreme Court. The marriage of Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan remains the only legal same-sex marriage in the state.

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-marriage-goes-before-iow...

[Maven]

1. OMG why does this ALWAYS happen before an election!!!111!!

2010 is just around the corner!

OMG!

[ccharles000]

2. LOL

[ccharles000]

3. kick

[bluedawg12]

4. Thanks! Who knew Iowa was a leader in civil rights?

Now I do.

>>Lambda Legal, which represents the six couples said it is cautiously optimistic the Supreme Court will uphold Hanson’s ruling. Lambda attorney Camilla Taylor noted that the Iowa court traditionally has led the nation on civil rights issues, pointing out that the Iowa justices struck down a ban on interracial marriage more than a century before the U.S. Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional.

“This is not even a close constitutional call,” Taylor told The Des Moines Register. “If you examine the law in other states, the case law in Iowa is at least as strong, if not stronger. The Iowa Supreme Court has made it clear from its inception that the law includes broader guarantees of equality than federal law.<<

[Tutonic]

5. Sorry, Iowa is not a civil rights leader. Unless those justices plan

on having a band of psobabble Rapture Ready Nuts stalking them for the next nine years, they are not likely to rule favoarably for same sex. Iowa like Nebraska, Missouri and Indiana ischock full o nuts.

[CatholicEdHead]

7. It can happen, western Iowa is conservative, it is pretty liberal

around Des Moines and central and eastern parts of the state.

[bluedawg12]

8. One can always hope.

Boy religious extremism has taken such a toll on this country.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. I doubt it will happen, but just imagine the irony...

Gay marriage legal in Iowa and not in California.

[ccharles000]

9. You never know