Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean says the "tide is turning" on gay marriage, partly because of the attitudes of younger Americans. Dean, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, was in Iowa tonight to speak at a fundraiser for "One Iowa" -- a group that has lobbied for gay marriage.
"This new generation is not nearly as divisive or confrontational as my generation and they also all know somebody who is gay because somebody has publicly said so to them and once you know somebody who is gay or lesbian, you can't say the things that you used to say about them," Dean says. "I remember growing up, we used to say things about gay people; we didn't know anybody who was gay -- we didn't think we knew anybody who was gay. Once somebody says, 'I'm gay and I wish you wouldn't do that,' you don't talk like that anymore because they're a human being."
Howard Dean will be in Des Moines Thursday doing 2 events.
The first event is a discussion on a public option for health care hosted by ICAN and DFA.
Join us for a special guest, Governor Howard Dean, who is offering up a prescription for change in health care reform this year. What is a “public option?” Why is it so important? What can we all do collectively to help win REAL changes in health care reform in 2009 that bring quality, affordable, health care for everyone in America ?
Date:Thursday, May 28, 2009
Time:5:15pm - 7:00pm
Location:1st Unitarian Church of Des Moines
Street:1800 Bell Ave
City/Town:Des Moines, IA
The second event is hosted by One Iowa and focuses on Iowa's Supreme Court decision on gay marriage.
Join us in honoring Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and House Speaker Pat Murphy.
Choi, 28, who majored in Arabic language at West Point, announced he is gay during an appearance March 19 on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show." Soon after, the army made plans to fire him, saying he had "negatively affected good order and discipline in the New York Army National Guard."
Choi said he was disappointed and angry, and it took him only 30 minutes after receiving the letter to decide: "I'm fighting this."
The federal law, approved by Congress in 1993, takes precedence over the Iowa Supreme Court ruling in April that legalized same-sex marriage, according to legal experts. The ruling struck down Iowa's Defense of Marriage Act, which had limited marriage to a man and a woman.
The Iowa National Guard is prevented from implementing the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling for its personnel because it is a federally recognized military organization, said Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood Jr., the Iowa National Guard's public affairs officer.
"We are a microcosm of society," Hapgood said. "We have gay people in the Iowa National Guard. But under that policy, that is not the test. It is about conduct, not about whether you are gay."
The federal law is often described as "don't ask, don't tell" because it permits gays and lesbians to serve in the military if they are not open about their sexual orientation.
Nate Silver writes at 538 about two national polls released recently that show a plurality of Americans supporting gay marriage.
There are two basic types of polls on gay marriage. The first type of poll simply asks the respondent whether or not they approve or disapprove of gay marriage; the second type gives them a three-way choice between gay marriage, civil unions and no legal recognition.
Up until now, according to the database compiled by PollingReport.com, the closest gay marriage had come to achieving a plurality on the first type of poll was from a Time/SRBI survey in August, 2008, in which likely voters were evenly divided 47-47 on their support for gay marriage rights. However, a new poll from ABC News and the Washington Post gives gay marriage an outright plurality, with 49 percent of adults supporting gay marriage and 46 percent opposed.
In the second type of poll -- the "three-way" poll where the respondent may pick civil unions rather than marriage or nothing -- support for gay marriage is typically slightly lower, as about 5-10 percent of respondents appear to have a preference order of civil unions > gay marriage > nothing, where gay marriage is preferred to nothing, but civil unions are preferred to both alternatives. Gay marriage had yet to poll a plurality in this type of survey either -- until this week, when a CBS/NYT poll put support for full marriage rights at 42 percent, versus 25 percent for civil unions and 28 percent for no legal recognition. This represents a significant increase from an identical CBS/NYT poll in March, where the numbers were 33 percent for marriage, 27 percent for civil unions, and 35 percent for no recognition.
Although these polls represent cheerful news for supporters of gay marriage, they are contradicted by some other recent evidence. In particular, a Quinnipiac poll, also released today, had just 38 percent in favor of gay marriage against 55 percent opposed. Quinnipiac did show a 57 percent majority in support of civil unions.
I have a question for Rightwing Republicans who are protesting against the Iowa Supreme Court's decision to grant gays equal rights under Iowa's constitution.
Where do people get married at?
a) a Church b) a Courthouse
If you answered b) and believe that gay marriage should be illegal then you have reason to upset.
However, I am pretty sure that you believe people get married at a church. The decision handed down by the Iowa Supreme Court has nothing to do with churches. The decision grants equal rights under the law when you get a marriage license from a County Recorder at a local Courthouse. People will take this marriage license to the church of their choice to get married.
If your church allows gay marriage and you disagree with that then I would suggest finding a church better aligns with your beliefs.
The New York Times has an article about gay marriage in Iowa. It includes this piece of advice from an 84 year old Iowan, who disagrees with the gay marriage.
“To be honest, I would rather not have it in Iowa,” said Shirley Cox, who has spent most of her 84 years in this old railroad town. Ms. Cox said she had always been proud to tell people what state she was from, but now was not so sure.
“But the thing is,” she went on, “it’s really none of my business. Who am I to tell someone how to live? I live the way I want, and they should live the way they want. I’m surely not going to stomp and raise heck and campaign against it.”
Today, One Iowa released a television advertisement to support the freedom to marry in Iowa. As committed gay and lesbian couples prepare to wed in Iowa, the ad celebrates the April 3rd unanimous Iowa Supreme Court decision that continues Iowa's tradition of civil rights leadership. "More than anything, this ad is a celebration of Iowa and the values of fairness and decency that Iowans hold dear," said Carolyn Jenison, Executive Director of One Iowa.
The Des Moines Register writes about the desperate actions Republican lawmakers are taking to defy the Iowa Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage.
By trying to allow county employees to defy a Supreme Court ruling, desperate lawmakers are taking desperate actions.
And it appears at least one lawmaker's staff took things a step further. A county recorder sent an e-mail to colleagues about a call she took from Republican Rep. Kent Sorenson's clerk. When the clerk asked the recorder how she was going to handle the gay-marriage issue, the recorder rightly responded she would process the application, just as the law requires.
According to the recorder's e-mail, the clerk "inquired as to why I thought I had to do that - it's not a law, it's an opinion."
Sorenson said he didn't put his assistant up to making the call, but it leaves Iowans wondering what's going on at the Statehouse. Are the staff of elected officials - working on the public dime - embarking on a fishing expedition to find a county recorder who is willing to defy the law or to encourage them to do so?
County recorders have taken an oath to do a job. As of next week, that job will include processing the paperwork for gay couples who want to marry. It doesn't matter whether the government employees personally disagree with such unions. Just like it didn't matter when a gay county recorder wanted to grant such licenses before the law allowed it.
They don't get to decide which laws they follow. And if some refuse to do their jobs, they should face consequences - and find new employment.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have a job to do as well - including dealing with state budget shortfalls in the final days of the session. They should focus on doing the important work Iowa needs done - not embarrassing themselves and this state with desperate attempts to deny people their rights.
If people have a problem with a county recorder granting a marriage licence, then change Iowa law so that county recorders give a civil union certificate that would grant equal rights under the law. Then the couple could take the civil union certificate to a church of their choice if they want and get married.
I thought rightwing Republicans would believe couples get married in a church and not at a courthouse.
I didn't write this, but it is hilarious (I especially like #2 and #7), so I had to share...
10 Reasons why Gay Marriage is "wrong"
1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
Gov. Culver released a statement on Friday basically saying that he would take time to review the decision. Culver released a more detailed statement today.
As I have stated before, I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a tenet of my personal faith. The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision has, in fact, reaffirmed that churches across Iowa will continue to have the right to recognize the sanctity of religious marriage in accordance with their own traditions and church doctrines. The Supreme Court’s decision does not require that churches recognize marriages between persons of the same gender or officiate over such unions. The Court does not have, nor should any court ever have, that kind of power over our religious lives. Our churches and places of worship are free to decide for themselves, as they were before, who may enter the sacred covenant of marriage. As the Supreme Court’s decision states, ‘The sanctity of all religious marriages celebrated in the future will have the same meaning as those celebrated in the past.’
Yet, the Supreme Court of Iowa, in a unanimous decision, has clearly stated that the Constitution of our state, which guarantees equal protection of the law to all Iowans, requires the State of Iowa to recognize the civil marriage contract of two people of the same gender. The Court also concluded that the denial of this right constitutes discrimination. Therefore, after careful consideration and a thorough reading of the Court’s decision, I am reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory.
Sen. Gronstal responds to Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley's request to co-sponsor a leadership bill that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Gronstal's comments about his daughter reflect recent poll by the University of Iowa that found 60 percent of Iowans under age 30 support same-sex marriage, and three-fourths of Iowans under 30 favor some formal recognition of same-sex relationships.
Like the state’s earlier landmark civil rights cases — striking down slavery in 1839, for example, and segregation in 1868 and 1873 — the ruling on gay marriage by Iowa’s Supreme Court is a refreshing message of fairness and common sense from the nation’s heartland. [...]
In finding no “persuasive justification” for the different treatment of committed gay and lesbian couples, the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a lower court holding of two years ago. That ruling overturned, on equal protection grounds, a 1998 state law confining civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriages could begin in Iowa before the month is out.
The new decision says marriage is a civil contract and should not be defined by religious doctrine or views. “We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further an important governmental objective,” wrote Justice Mark Cady, a Republican appointee. “The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”
State Sen. Matt McCoy, the first openly gay member of the Iowa Legislature, released a video on YouTube following today's ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court overturing the ban on same-sex marriage. McCoy explains why Iowa won't go back on today's decision like California did.
Federal deducti-what? This news that the Iowa Supreme Court has overturned the ban on same-sex marriage will now dominate the remaining days of the legislative session.
In a unanimous decision issued just moments ago, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Iowa’s definition of marriage, which excluded same-sex couples, violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.
I believe this is the civil rights issue of our time and it is great to see that Iowa is ahead of the curve in recognizing that every person deserves equal rights under the law.
Unfortunately, we will see extreme hatred from opponents of this decision in the coming months. In my local paper this morning was a letter to the editor entitled Pedophilia, polygamy, and incest are next. (I am sure this man made the same arguments over interracial marriage years ago.)
Earlier this week the Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments for and against gay marriage. Those against gay marriage are always bring up how gay marriage is an attack on traditional marriage.
This diary from Daily Kos takes a look at what the bible has to say about traditional marriage.
A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)
D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)
G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)
From a July 2002 memo from the military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency...
The unintended consequence of a U.S. policy that provides for the torture of prisoners is that it could be used by our adversaries as justification for the torture of captured U.S. personnel.
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