Varnum v. Brien: Iowa Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

by Michael Jones · 2009-04-03 06:58:00 UTC
Topics:

Freedom to Marry

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. A unanimous decision in support of same-sex marriage out this morning in Iowa.

Iowa's Supreme Court ruled today in the case of Varnum v. Brien that the state's 1998 law that limits marriage to one man and one woman is unconstitutional. The decision makes Iowa the third state in the country, and the first that doesn't touch an ocean shore, to legalize same-sex marriage.

From the Des Moines Register:

The decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the fourth nationwide, to allow same-sex marriages. Lawyers for Lambda Legal, a gay rights group that financed the court battle and represented the couples, had hoped to use a court victory to demonstrate acceptance of same-sex marriage in heartland America...

It’s probable that county and state governments in Iowa, as in other states that have passed gay marriage laws, will be given two or three months to put the change in place. That means that such unions won’t begin today, said Justin Uebelhor, director of communications for One Iowa, the state’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered advocacy group.

This is such good news.  The first purple state to recognize same-sex marriage.  This is going to have massive reverberations, from Vermont to New Hampshire and Maine - which are currently wrestling with legislation that would recognize marriage equality - and perhaps even to neighboring Illinois and Minnesota, both of which have marriage equality legislation introduced in their state governments.

Iowa.  You rock.

Here's a link to the court's opinion.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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