As Iowa goes, so goes the nation...
...is a saying that's apparently slung about during presidential election season.
So, for those of you who've been living under a rock (or not in the US), it may interest you to know that Iowa has become the third US state to legalize gay marriage. It happened here by a unanimous - mark it, unanimous - vote in the Iowa Supreme Court. This can only be challenged by a constitutional amendment, which could (I believe) be put before voters at soonest in 2012. And, if no action is taken this term, that bumps it back to 2014. (So says transnomad, and as he's a PoliSci major and a reporter, I will take his word for it.)
This is significant because Iowa is a Midwestern state, the Midwest being known as America's "Heartland," and a region famed for, well, its wholesomeness and relative conservatism. It's not as conservative as some Southern states, but it's not a place which is turned to for a lot of cutting-edge social reform. (Really, the only time Iowa gets a lot of attention is during presidential primaries, because it has the first caucus, which does a lot to set the tone of later ones.)
The point is? If Iowa can do it, it kinda seems like everyone can. If Iowa legalizes same-sex marriages, same-sex marriage is no longer an issue o be conflated with more liberal coastal regions; it's something that's moving forward in the agricultural and largely-traditional heart of the USA. And I am so proud of my state (even though I'm leaving it) right now.
As I was leaving work, I passed some rainbow flags on the Pentacrest ad stopped to see what was going on. As it turned out, it was a rally - and, hell, this was history being made, so I called up all my Iowa City friends and told them to get down. I got handed a big flag to wave, I got to sign the guestbook with the same pen the Governor had used, and I stayed for the entire thing.
There were lots of speakers - the lawyers who fought for the resolution, the Mayor of Iowa City, the parents of a girl who had come out as lesbian, students at UIowa, at least five or six pastors of various churches who had come together to show their support. There were people of all ages there, people with kids, happy, exuberant families. And there were people there who had been together for 5, 10, 18 years and were just now getting the chance to be married.
I have trouble reconciling that with the people who say that it's all an abomination unto the Lord, or that it'll tear apart society, or... or... or. What the rally embodied wasn't gloating or mean-spirited or perverse or even sexual, it was joy - at a society which finally recognized that love is love is love and when two thinking beings love each other and want to support each other through life's trials, it's not the business of the law to tell them that they can't.
One of the speakers made it a point to note that, and I wish I had the actual words, but The sanctity of religious marriages in Iowa in the future will be the same as the sanctity of religious marriages in Iowa in the past. What has changed is the civil institution of marriage, and it has changed to recognize that all people are deserving of equality under the law. And it's... that. The validation of love is not a refutation of love. The broadening of minds is not a destruction of ideals. The gathering today wasn't about wresting anything from anybody's hands, it was about opening up hands with a gratitude and compassion that does not run dry - and I was proud to see it.
Also, I've been quoted in the Press-Citizen. So that's nifty too.
So, for those of you who've been living under a rock (or not in the US), it may interest you to know that Iowa has become the third US state to legalize gay marriage. It happened here by a unanimous - mark it, unanimous - vote in the Iowa Supreme Court. This can only be challenged by a constitutional amendment, which could (I believe) be put before voters at soonest in 2012. And, if no action is taken this term, that bumps it back to 2014. (So says transnomad, and as he's a PoliSci major and a reporter, I will take his word for it.)
This is significant because Iowa is a Midwestern state, the Midwest being known as America's "Heartland," and a region famed for, well, its wholesomeness and relative conservatism. It's not as conservative as some Southern states, but it's not a place which is turned to for a lot of cutting-edge social reform. (Really, the only time Iowa gets a lot of attention is during presidential primaries, because it has the first caucus, which does a lot to set the tone of later ones.)
The point is? If Iowa can do it, it kinda seems like everyone can. If Iowa legalizes same-sex marriages, same-sex marriage is no longer an issue o be conflated with more liberal coastal regions; it's something that's moving forward in the agricultural and largely-traditional heart of the USA. And I am so proud of my state (even though I'm leaving it) right now.
As I was leaving work, I passed some rainbow flags on the Pentacrest ad stopped to see what was going on. As it turned out, it was a rally - and, hell, this was history being made, so I called up all my Iowa City friends and told them to get down. I got handed a big flag to wave, I got to sign the guestbook with the same pen the Governor had used, and I stayed for the entire thing.
There were lots of speakers - the lawyers who fought for the resolution, the Mayor of Iowa City, the parents of a girl who had come out as lesbian, students at UIowa, at least five or six pastors of various churches who had come together to show their support. There were people of all ages there, people with kids, happy, exuberant families. And there were people there who had been together for 5, 10, 18 years and were just now getting the chance to be married.
I have trouble reconciling that with the people who say that it's all an abomination unto the Lord, or that it'll tear apart society, or... or... or. What the rally embodied wasn't gloating or mean-spirited or perverse or even sexual, it was joy - at a society which finally recognized that love is love is love and when two thinking beings love each other and want to support each other through life's trials, it's not the business of the law to tell them that they can't.
One of the speakers made it a point to note that, and I wish I had the actual words, but The sanctity of religious marriages in Iowa in the future will be the same as the sanctity of religious marriages in Iowa in the past. What has changed is the civil institution of marriage, and it has changed to recognize that all people are deserving of equality under the law. And it's... that. The validation of love is not a refutation of love. The broadening of minds is not a destruction of ideals. The gathering today wasn't about wresting anything from anybody's hands, it was about opening up hands with a gratitude and compassion that does not run dry - and I was proud to see it.
Also, I've been quoted in the Press-Citizen. So that's nifty too.