Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of the unanimous state Supreme Court ruling in Varnum v. Brien that extended equal marriage rights to LGBTQ Iowans and so I've enjoyed reading the various retrospectives published here and there around the Web.
In the absence of strong newspapers, I especially appreciated this post from veteran journalist Laura Belin on her Bleeding Heartland blog.
Also did a quick count of happily married gay couples among my Facebook friends and came up with 10 or so --- their happiness makes me happy every time I think about them.
And did a very quick search of Chariton newspaper archives for that year to remind myself of local response. As might be expected, the publisher of our weeklies was outraged and the two Baptist preachers in town --- both still here --- engaged in a bit of hand-wringing when the time came after the decision for publication of their sermonettes. Later on, when an effort was being made to organize a Lucas County "tea party," those in charge imported a third Baptist preacher --- representing a now-forgotten "pro-family" group --- to play the marriage card.
Our state senator, Paul McKinley --- then Senate minority leader --- was distressed, too, and continued to be distressed for the remainder of his term as Democrats blocked efforts to amend the state constitution to ensure that only straight couples enjoyed the right to marry.
Republicans extracted a bit of revenge in 2010 by organizing the faithful to actually fill out the judicial retention section of the general election ballot --- and unseat three of the justices who had participated in the Varnum v. Brien decision.
Iowa became in 2009 only the third state to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples, so for a time there was a modest increase in the number of folks coming here from other nearby states to tie the knot.
Then, on June 15, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment required all states to allow same-sex marriage and recognize marriages performed in other states. And that was fairly well all she wrote, for now.
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Since 2009, Republicans have taken control of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature and the governor's office and have been busily engaged in doing those things Republicans do --- disenfranchising and punishing the poor and disenfranchised for being poor and disenfranchised, chipping away at women's rights to control their own reproductive healthcare, encouraging the proliferation of assault-style weapons so Iowans can shoot each other more conveniently and trying to legislate "religious freedom" --- that translates as ensuring the rights of Christians to discriminate against folks they don't like.
But same-sex couples continue to marry here and elsewhere across the land, and that's a positive thing in an era of considerable negativity.
Laura Belin included this video of then-Senate majority leader Mike Gronstal blocking minority leader McKinley's attempt to bring to the Senate floor immediately after the 2009 ruling a constitutional amendment that would have reversed it. It's still worth watching.
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