Des Moines Register: Same Sex Marriage goes before Iowa high court this week

The case, Varnum vs. Brien, could make Iowa the first state in the Midwest to legalize same-sex marriage. Other high-court decisions that favor gay rights advocates have come from traditionally liberal coastal states, including California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

“This is the heartland of America – a place where family values are revered,” said University of Iowa law professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig, who has signed a court brief supporting gay-marriage rights. “It would be an incredibly strong signal for the Iowa Supreme Court to find that same-sex marriages are legal.”

Yet a ruling that upholds the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act would amount to a major setback for the gay rights movement, and a victory for social conservatives who argue that same-sex marriage threatens traditional families.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, --Civil Unions & Partnerships, Law & Legal Issues, Marriage & Family, Sexuality

5 comments on “Des Moines Register: Same Sex Marriage goes before Iowa high court this week

  1. Franz says:

    It is a shame that even a professor of law can’t get it right. She states: “It would be an incredibly strong signal for the Iowa Supreme Court to find that same-sex marriages are legal.”

    However, the issue is not whether same-sex marriages are legal. The Iowa legislature could make them legal at any time. The issue for the Iowa Supreme Court to decide is whether the Iowa Constitution requires the State to recognize same sex marriages.

    That is a somewhat different proposition.

  2. drummie says:

    The following quote is from the Complete Book of Everyday Christianity, and found in Wordsearch Bible software:

    “The conservative interpretation of passages such as Genesis 19:5-9; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Judges 19:22-28; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; and 1 Tim. 1:8-11 is that there is a clear condemnation of homosexual behavior that goes beyond the commands to Israel and has binding significance for Christians today.—Complete Book of Everyday Christianity, The

    What will it take for people, particularly Supreme Court Justices, both federal and state, Church leaders, and legislators to understand that so called gay marriage is NOT a right. It is just like ordination, no one has a right to be ordained. You have to meet certain criteria. Same thing for marriage, one must be male and one must be female. It is not me, nor Church leaders or any Christian for that matter saying this, it is GOD saying this.

    Another thing to look at is celibacy. Everyone knows that in the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church, celibacy is demanded for priests and bishops. Here is the strongest statement yet, you can not marry, and must remain celibate. So, Gay men can be Church leaders as long as they are celibate. The same rule applies to heterosexual relationships as well. No sexual relations outside the covenant of marriage.

  3. plinx says:

    Well, if it’s in the Complete Book of Everyday Christianity it must be right!
    The dam is breaking, and the walls of anti-gay bigotry are coming down. History will have its way, whether you like it or not.

  4. Larry Morse says:

    Well, plinx, the dikes are indeed breaking – or may well be – and we are like the Dutch, watching for a visit from the sea – which does not distinguish between those who can swim and those who can’t. You may get what you wish for. God did it once before. Is YOUR ark built?
    Larry

  5. plinx says:

    Hmmm . . . you mean the ark in the Noah myth? Maybe you should be buliding YOUR ark for the new world that rejects anti-gay discrimination.