During the recent presidential campaign, I was pleasantly surprised by that state’s firm support of then-candidate Barack Obama. I was delighted when, unexpectedly, the Iowa Supreme Court decided on Friday that a state law restricting marriage to one man and one woman was unconstitutional.
It has been a dreary past few months. Aside from the overwhelmingly good news of Barack Obama’s presidential victory and his inspiring inauguration—a day I will remember as long as I’m alive—we’ve had a steady stream of bad news about the economy, terrible unemployment, teacher layoffs, and two wars that never seem to end. Not to mention the miserable mess that is Proposition 8.
But then something happened in Des Moines. A panel of judges upheld the sanctity of equal protection of the laws. Starting April 24, gay couples in Iowa can get married. This decision will change everything.
“When it was only California and Massachusetts, it could be perceived as extremism on the coasts and not related to core American values,” said John Logan of Brown University in a recent Associated Press article by Amy Lorentzen that appeared in Saturday’s Ventura County Star.
“But as it extends to states like Iowa, and as attitudes toward gay marriage have evidently changed, then people will look at it as an example of broad acceptance.”
Indeed. Attitudes have already changed. Blame it on Iowa, or blame it on Project Runway or Will and Grace, but young people these days do not have the hangups Archie Bunker once did. When they start replacing baby boomers as legislators, gay marriage will be legal even in conservative strongholds like the South.
So, I admire Iowans. They were among the first to recognize as lawful interracial marriages. Iowa led the nation in desegregation and women’s rights. It presaged Barack Obama’s presidential victory with its endorsement of him as the strongest Democratic presidential contender. Now it is a leader in recognizing the constitutional rights of gays.
As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.
Not to worry, conservatives. There will always be a place for homophobes in the Republican party. But the Republican party risks fading further into irrelevance if it sticks with its hysterically anti-gay platform. No political party can afford that.
