Why does iowa allow gay marriage

Vicky Waltz Profile. Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours EST and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation. As an evangeical christian who attends BU I take offense to this.

We are not weak; we just put up with all you liberals. Volk meant that compared to the South and California particularly, there are not as many evangelical Christians in the Northeast and therefore their political power here is weaker. This has nothing to do with civil rights.

This is a conscious strategy. To suggest any differently is is the result of ignorance perhaps willful , questionable logic, or outright deception. Unfortunately, the left-wing has worked very hard over the last few decades to infiltrate the education system and indoctrinate the youth. So, here we are. Does anyone really think the voice of the people of Iowa has been represented?

Who are we kidding? If the Iowa legislature had voted this down, you can be certain there would be an outcry that civil liberties had been violated, not acceptance that the voice of the people had been represented. If it is legalized by a vote of the people, I will accept it. The one right that matters most in this country above any other is the right to vote. When that gets taken away, there are no other rights. But the institution is religous in its origins. The civil registration of marriage in the US flowed from the European model of having the Church which was interwined with the soverign keep marriage records.

Without an official religion the US needed a system to replace the European system and that is where civil marriage originates in the US. What always confused me about the same-sex marriage debate is that LGBT activist have spent the last 40 years arguing that the government has no place in their private lives which as a libertarian I agree with but now wants marriage, whereby the government records cohabitation, to cover them as well. Why should their position change now? The answer is exactly as Prof Volk states — to obtain the benefits of marriage.

Marriage would stay as a religous institution. Civil union would include any two person combination regardless of gender. Vermont's legislature has approved a bill to legalise gay marriage, but it may be vetoed by the governor. The Iowa case has been working its way through the court system since when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organisation, filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Some of their children are also listed as plaintiffs. The state Supreme Court's ruling upheld an August decision by Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson, who found that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection. The Polk County attorney's office, arguing on behalf of Brien, claimed that Hanson's ruling violates the separation of powers and said the issue should be left to the legislature.

Sarcone, the current county attorney, said gay marriage opponents can't appeal the case at the state or federal level because they were not party to the lawsuit and no federal issue was raised in the case.

Varnum, in so many ways, galvanized Iowa politics and became a political Rubicon. A full ten years after Varnum, Iowa began its long caucus season and with same the launch of the campaign of Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate. In the past decade, same-sex marriage has gone from a divisive political issue to one where the majority of Iowans are in favor of the issue.

Currently, efforts by Gov. And the state denies Medicaid to trans people for vitally necessary procedures. And while some cities in Iowa like Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are heralded by the Human Rights Commission as open and accessible to LGBTQ people, in Orange City, the local gay pride festival is struggling to stay alive amid discrimination and pushback from community members.

Alison Gowans News Nov. Gazette Editorial Staff Editorials Sep. James Q. Staff Editorial. Staff Editorials Nov. Staff Editorials Oct. Guest Columnists Nov. Todd Dorman. Staff Columnists Nov. Health Care and Medicine 1h ago. At the time of the Varnum decision, Massachusetts and Connecticut were the only other states allowing same-sex marriage. Today, 17 states and Washington, D.

And last summer, the U. Supreme Court struck down the part of the Defense of Marriage Act that had previously denied married same-sex couples federal benefits.

We went right to the middle of the country. Lambda Legal now has 62 cases pending in 29 states and has won a slew of recent court rulings in favor of same-sex marriage in states such as Utah and Texas. Varnum coincided with changing attitudes on gay marriage nationwide. Since , support for same-sex marriage has moved continually upward, according to annual polls by the Pew Research Center.

Five years ago, 37 percent of Americans favored same-sex marriage.