April 3, 2009 - In a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled (.pdf):
"On our review, we hold the Iowa marriage statute violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution [...] A statute inconsistent with the Iowa Constitution must be declared void, even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion."News release (.pdf):
The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.Marriage equality will take effect in three weeks, and the soonest it might be repealed by constitutional amendment is 2012. After the well-publicized Prop 8. backlash I very much doubt that will happen; time is not on bigotry's side.
The three full marriage equality states will now be Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa. The next domino will likely be Vermont, where its house just passed a bill 95-52.
Update: Andrew has a recap and re-ax. I found the summary at NRO to be especially helpful.
Another short-sighted and counterproductive effort by a court to unconstitutionally change existing legislation and manufacture a right which did not and does not exist, rather than allowing gay marriage to be legalized through the political process. And I say this as someone who strongly supports gay marriage. The way to do it is shown by Vermont.
ReplyDeleteHaving the courts arbitrarily declare gay marriage a right, based on nothing other than their own opinion, helps cause a backlash, increases hostility toward gays, makes many people view gay marriage as an illegitimate institution, and even alienates some gay marriage supporters, such as myself.