Wedding Bells in Iowa!
A judge struck down Iowa’s DOMA law, and gay couples are beginning to line up at the courhouses. Good for them, bad for political discourse in Iowa over the next several months.
Gay marriage comes to the heartland. From the AP Wire:
A county judge struck down Iowa’s decade-old gay marriage ban as unconstitutional Thursday and ordered local officials to process marriage licenses for six gay couples.
Gay couples from anywhere in Iowa could apply for a marriage license from Polk County under Judge Robert Hanson’s ruling.
Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied for a license, the first time the county had accepted a same-sex application. The approval process takes three days.
Gary Allen Seronko, 51, was listed as the groom on the form and David Curtis Rethmeier, 29, the bride.
“I started to cry because we so badly want to be able to be protected if something happens to one of us,” Rethmeier said.
Deputy Recorder Trish Umthun said she took five calls from gay couples after the judge filed his ruling Thursday afternoon and expected a rush of applications Friday.
Of course, this will be appealed, and the Christians all over Iowa will be calling for an amendment to the state constitution. Politicians, and every single one running for President is in the state constantly, are now going to be asked the gay marriage question. So we’re going to be focused on this issue from now until the caucuses, to the exclusion of other very important issues. Don’t get me wrong, civil rights for gay people are very important, but they should not dominate our discussions, and believe me, they will dominate over the next several months in Iowa. Yeah, I’m not seeing this as all good news.
To the Editor:
On Sunday, I had the opportunity to see two friends get married. People who love each other, and have spent 30 years committed to each other. The most touching part was realizing that the State of Iowa had decided to grant these two people their civil rights. That they were considered equal under the law, just like any other citizen. This among other reasons were why the Founding Fathers wanted church and state kept apart. There is no reason that the church should be involved in the granting of civil union licenses. I hope after 30 years of union that my partner and I are as strong as Mark Kassis, and Terry Lowman. To those people who would say that they shouldn’t be allowed to claim their civil rights, I will remind you that we didn’t used to let women vote or own property, and didn’t used to consider black people human beings.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
They aren’t just pretty things you talk about once a year.