Iowa Gay Marriage Ban Overturned
Posted: August 30, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Des Moines, Iowa) A Des Moines judge late Thursday afternoon stuck down the state's law that prevents same-sex couples from marrying.

Judge Robert B. Hanson ruled that the state's so-called Defense of Marriage Act violates the Iowa state constitution.

In his decision, Hanson said, "Couples, such as Plaintiffs, who are otherwise qualified to marry one another may not be denied licenses to marry or certificates of marriage or in any other way prevented from entering into a civil marriage pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 595 by reason of the fact that both persons compromising such a couple are of the same sex."

The case began in December 2005 when six same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses.

The couples are represented by Lambda Legal and former Iowa Solicitor General Dennis Johnson who is now in private practice.

"I have faith that once my fellow Iowans see the inherent injustice in leaving these families without the protections of marriage, they will support allowing these couples to marry," said Johnson outside the court when arguments were made in the case in May.

Johnson and Lambda argued that under the equal protection and due process guarantees in the Iowa State Constitution it is unlawful to bar same-sex couples from marrying.

Papers filed with the court included affidavits from the same-sex couples in the lawsuit explaining first-hand to the court why they want to marry and the harms they suffer from being denied this right.

Also included were friend of the court briefs by faith leaders and religious groups from across the state which support of the right for same-sex couples to marry.

In one amicus brief Dr. Michael Lamb, a world-renowned child developmental psychologist said that "children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents."

The Iowa Civil Liberties Union also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the couples on behalf of Iowa law professors and historians.

It is expected the case will be appealed and eventually go to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Tristan... do you really have IT on your mind ALL the time? LOL

oh geesh

LOL

oh, well - so much for not proof-reading LOL

Iowa Gary Marriage Ban Overturned?

A slip of the keystroke perhaps? lol

How can such children benefit from the experience of having a parent of each sex?

Why should they be wilfully deprived of a mother or a father?

"The Legislature could rationally believe that it is better, other things being equal, for children to grow up with both a mother and a father. Intuition and experience suggest that a child benefits from having before his or her eyes, every day, living models of what both a man and a woman are like.

It is obvious that there are exceptions to this general rule -- some children who never know their fathers, or their mothers, do far better than some who grow
up with parents of both sexes -- but the Legislature could find that the general rule will usually hold."

NY Court of Appeals, July 2006

OKAY EVERYBODY - I GET IT!!! I FUCKED UP THE THREAD TITLE. LOL and I can't edit it either.

Oh, well....

=P That was a great typo!

Oh, I guess you didnt read the article. It stated clearly that there is no specific benefit.

That's why it's unimportant.

PLease see thread posted today about Maine's Supreme Court supporting gay couples' adoption. It was endorsed by the APA, American Pedicatic Association, and other child welfare organizations.

I guess they know more about this than you do.