Iowa shows "common sense and decency" to legalize gay marriage

April 3, 3:57 PMInternational LGBT Issues ExaminerKelvin Lynch

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             Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court

In a bellwether ruling from America's heartland, the Iowa Supreme Court today voted unanimously to strike a ban on gay marriage in the state.  The court upheld an appellate ruling that the ban restricting marriage to being only between a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

The court held that the marriage ban violated equal protection, "even though it was supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion." 

The court dismissed the argument that the same-sex marriage ban was intended to protect children:

 

The argument that the goal of the same-sex marriage ban is to ensure children will be raised only in the optimal milieu ... by statutory exclusion of gay and lesbian people is both under-inclusive and over-inclusive. The civil marriage statute is under-inclusive because it does not exclude from marriage other groups of parents--such as child abusers, sexual predators, parents neglecting to provide child support, and violent felons--that are undeniably less than optimal parents. Such under-inclusion tends to demonstrate that the sexual-orientation-based classification is grounded in prejudice or 'overbroad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences' of gay and lesbian people, rather than having a substantial relationship to some important objective. If the marriage statute was truly focused on optimal parenting, many classifications of people would be excluded, not merely gay and lesbian people.

In response to the ruling, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy released a joint statement saying,

Thanks to today's decision, Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing all of our citizens' equal rights.  The court has ruled that when two Iowans promise to share their lives together, state law will respect that commitment, regardless of whether the couple is gay or straight.  When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today's events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency.

Today's ruling makes Iowa the third state in the US to legalize same-sex marriage, along with Massachusetts and Connecticut.  It is anticipated that the Vermont legislature will soon legalize marriage, and a decision by the California Supreme Court whether or not to overturn Prop 8 is imminent.