Iowa Gay Marriage Ruling
Iowans are braced for a landmark Iowa Supreme Court decision that could allow same-sex couples to wed.

Iowa/USA
April 3, 2009

By GRANT SCHULTE • Des Moines Register • April 3, 2009


Social conservatives and gay rights supporters are braced for a landmark Iowa Supreme Court decision that could strengthen the state's decade-old marriage law or allow same-sex couples to wed.

Both sides today will learn the result of a four-year legal battle that has catapulted Iowa into the national spotlight. The result, advocates and legal scholars said Thursday, will likely echo across America - no matter what the high court concludes.

"It will have a tremendous impact nationally," Camilla Taylor, a senior attorney for the gay rights group Lambda Legal, said Thursday. "Iowa is our nation's heartland. We're tremendously optimistic that the court will recognize the rights of same-sex couples."
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Other high court decisions that favor gay marriage have come from traditionally liberal, coastal states such as California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Yet a ruling that upholds the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, would amount to a major setback for the gay rights movement and a victory for social conservatives who argue that same-sex marriage threatens traditional families.

Bryan English, a spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, said Thursday that judges in other states will likely refer to the Iowa decision when faced with similar cases, regardless of the outcome. Supporters of the 1998 marriage law have said the debate belongs in the Legislature, not the courts.

"The most logical conclusion, and the path of least resistance for the court, would be to uphold the law as it's written and move on," English said.

At least four results could come from the Supreme Court decision, Maura Strassberg, a Drake University law professor who has followed the case, said Thursday. The justices could:

- Uphold the law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

- Reject the law as unconstitutional.

- Send the case back to Polk County District Court.

- Ask the Legislature to establish equal protections for gay couples through civil unions or other means.

Taylor said the justices are more likely to issue a clear-cut ruling that either legalizes gay marriage or upholds Iowa's marriage law.

Iowa has no residency requirements for marriage, Strassberg said, which means gay couples could come from out of state to marry if the Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage.

The case, Varnum vs. Brien, involves six same-sex Iowa couples who sued Polk County Recorder and Registrar Timothy Brien in 2005, after his office denied them marriage licenses.

Polk County Judge Robert Hanson sided with the couples in a ruling in 2007, but suspended his decision so the high court could review the matter.

The Polk County attorney's office appealed Hanson's decision to the Iowa Supreme Court on the grounds that the county had followed the "clear, unambiguous language" of state law.

One of the couples, Kate and Trish Varnum of Cedar Rapids, who celebrated their relationship in a 2004 commitment ceremony, have said that they would still like to marry to declare their love. Kate Varnum said Iowans are "ahead of the curve on civil rights."

An Iowa high court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage would likely require two or three months to be set in motion to give county registrars time to adjust.

Gay marriages, as a result, might not become available right away, Justin Uebelhor, director of communications for One Iowa, the state's largest gay advocacy group, said Thursday.

Gay rights advocates have waged their battles in state courts to avoid a potentially damaging setback from the U.S. Supreme Court, said Andrew Koppelman, a Northwestern University law professor who has studied the impact of gay marriage cases.

On Tuesday, the New York Court of Appeals agreed to hear two cases that challenge the state's recognition of gay marriages that are legally performed elsewhere.

"Iowa is one skirmish in an ongoing fight," Koppelman said Thursday.

"It's not going to be an absolute victory for either side, whichever way it comes out. But overall, the movement for same-sex marriage has steadily triumphed over the last decade."

Jessica Lown, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said extra officers will be dispatched as needed to ensure safety around the Iowa Judicial Building today once the ruling is announced.

Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, said Iowa could set the stage for other states.

"I think it's significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest state 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.' "

In Dec. 10 arguments to the Supreme Court, Assistant Polk County Attorney Roger Kuhle argued that same-sex marriage could loosen the definition of marriage to include polygamy and could also hurt children who are best raised by a mother and father.

Dennis Johnson, a Des Moines lawyer, said the law violates the equal protection and due process provisions of Iowa's Constitution by treating gay and lesbian couples differently from heterosexual couples. The arguments about long-term damage to marriage are "highly speculative," he said.

Iowa already allows same-sex couples to adopt and act as foster parents, Johnson said.

Several justices had quizzed Johnson about the potential effect of a ruling in the gay couples' favor.

"How do you stop?" asked Justice Mark Cady. "How do you stop more than two people from getting married?"

Reporter Jason Clayworth contributed to this report.
Source: Des Moines Register