Apr
03
2009

wearing my ‘native’ shirt proudly today

with this morning’s supreme court ruling, iowa becomes the first non-coastal state to recognize same-sex marriage, one of only three in the nation (after prop 8 ) where gay couples enjoy the same rights as straight couples.

Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, said today’s decision could set the stage for other states. Socarides was was a senior political assistant for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin in the early 1990s.

“I think it’s significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest sate 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.’”

i don’t know about “nothing more american,” but judging from the last two elections we seem to be a pretty good bellwether of mainstream political sentiment. it’s worth remembering that this was a judicial ruling and not a legislative or popular movement; iowans as a whole may not be standing up to demand equality, but at the same time i’ll be surprised if the backlash is as loud or as ugly as it would have been ten or even five years ago. at any rate, it’s heartening to think that equal rights can no longer be considered strictly a new england & san francisco thing. not to mention that our tourism industry could use the boost!

oh yeah, and the “varnum” in “varnum v. brien”? that’s my cousin kate and her now-legally-recognized spouse trish. are we proud of them? just a little.

Written by josh in: Iowa,equal rights,justice,midwest |

3 Comments »

  • josh

    dammit, charlie got firsties.

    Comment | April 3, 2009
  • Katie

    Congratulations to your cousin!

    I was so psyched when I heard about this. And now I’ve spent more time on Facebook this morning than I have in about six months; the all-out Iowa love-fest is just too much fun.
    I also received a brief lesson in Iowa constitutional law over Facebook, which is… just weird.

    Comment | April 3, 2009
  • gray

    I’m so excited about this!  I’ve been rubbing it in my fellow Californians’ faces all day.  That’s twice in the past year that Iowa has demonstrated a stronger commitment to progressivism than California.  I think I said something back in February 2008 about how the primaries were showing us that a dramatic shift in influence was happening on the American left as traditional liberal strongholds were being superseded by traditionally purple places (from the left, surprisingly).  Today seems to confirm that.

    You’ll be glad to know that the organizations in charge of opposing prop 8 seem to have learned their lesson.  Before the election, they were focusing on getting out the gay vote.  There was very little outreach to non-gay communities; some friends of mine were pretty heavily involved in the canvassing process, which a lot people were participating in, but you almost never saw yard signs or canvassers outside of West Hollywood.  Prop 8 was a wake-up call, and they immediately took stock of their strategy and are now being much less stupid about advocacy: canvassing starts up in two weeks, and this time it’s happening in non-gay-majority areas of LA.  There also seems to be much more of an effort to bring in straight supporters to help, which is encouraging.  I’ll be doing some pre-canvassing phone banking next week, and I’m excited to get involved more directly (I mostly gave money and agitated in the classroom last year).  A recent poll of likely voters showed only 49% opposing marriage equality, 45% supporting it, and 6% undecided.  In a year or so there will be a clear majority in favor and prop 8 will be repealed at the ballot box (at which point I really hope California scraps its ridiculous referendum process).
    Comment | April 3, 2009

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