Today’s ruling at a glance
WHAT IT MEANS: Iowa soon will become the first Midwestern state, and the fourth nationwide, to allow same-sex marriages. The justices’ decision says their ruling “becomes effective upon issuance of procedendo,” a legal order that actual implements the decision announced Friday.
Polk County officials say they expect that order to be issued in about three weeks. Marriage licenses will begin to be issued after that.
THE ARGUMENTS: In prior court proceedings, Polk County lawyers had offered five main rationales for the law banning gay marriages: to maintain traditional marriage, to promote the optimal environment for raising children, to promote procreation, to promote stability in opposite-sex relationships and to conserve state resources such as tax breaks.
Iowa justices rejected all arguments and concluded that none of the stated objectives of the law “are furthered in a substantial way by the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage. Our equal protection clause requires more than has been offered to justify the continued existence of the same-sex marriage ban under the statute.”
But “state government can have no religious views, either directly or indirectly through it’s legislation,” the opinion says. “As a result, civil marriage must be judged under our constitutional standards of equal protection and not under religious doctrines or the religious views of individuals.”
WHAT’S NEXT: A possible campaign to offset the ruling with an amendment to the state constitution. Such a change probably could not outlaw gay marriages, however, until 2012 at the earliest.
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I am so proud to be able to stand up today and and the tell the world that I am an Iowan.
