Friday, April 03, 2009

Iowa Leapfrogs Vermont to Marriage Equality

These are truly the days of dread for anti-gay and anti-marriage equality types. This morning, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously for same-sex marriage, beginning April 24th.

Up in Vermont, the House will make its final approval of SSM there and the Senate is certain to confirm it today. So, nasty guys, you got your legislature. You got your courts. You got tolerance and equality popping up all around you.

I should get out in the mornings more often. I was away for several hours when the Iowa decision came down. It seems such good things happen when my fingers are off the keyboard.

We may see some scrambling in Vermont, with a certain veto from Gov. Jim Douglas and a hair-width margin near the two-thirds required in the House for an override. That would be 100 of 150 members if all are present and fewer otherwise.

I have not yet read the Iowa decision, but I'll get on it. Meanwhile, consider from the Des Moines Register:
Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, said today’s decision could set the stage for other states. Socarides was was a senior political assistant for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin in the early 1990s.

"I think it’s significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest sate in the mainstream of American thought,' Socarides said. 'Unlike states on the coasts, there’s nothing more American than Iowa. As they say during the presidential caucuses, 'As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.'"


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