Anti-gay groups like The National Organization for Marriage don’t have any facts to back up their crusade to ban marriage, so their ads all lean on innuendo, suggestions, and “weasel words.” Nowhere is that more apparent than their new ad, which calls for the ousting of Iowa Supreme Court justices based on one single ruling that NOM happens not to like.
If NOM wants to waste their money on these little games, that’s fine — and Jeremy already did a spot-on job explaining why ads like these are, in fact, a big waste. But it’s also a good opportunity for us to step back, look at their silly claims, and expose them to the light of day.
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Although social conservatives in the 2010 election campaign depict gay marriage as a threat to married life as we know it, Iowa’s 18-month experience with the newly legalized institution has revealed striking similarities to traditional marriage and no discernible harm to it, according to an IowaWatch study.
Moreover, marriage statistics show that female couples made up nearly two-thirds of the same-sex marriages in Iowa in the year after the state Supreme Court ruled it legal in April 2009.
Although experts say a single year does not constitute a trend, they say the disparity is consistent with the traditional way Americans raise children and establish their gender roles early in life. The disparity also reflects similar trends in other states where same-sex marriages are allowed.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
The idea that same-sex marriage can be outlawed by passing an amendment to Iowa’s constitution was killed when a federal judge in California overturned a similar ban earlier this week, Christian radio host Steve Deace said on his drive-time program Thursday.
U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled Wednesday that Proposition 8, a voter approved ballot measure in California, violates the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partners of their choice. Deace, who has been one of the biggest advocates for amending the state’s constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, said Walker’s verdict makes the amendment strategy “null and void.”
“I think the ruling makes efforts like the Iowa Marriage Amendment irrelevant,” Deace said. “I think we’d spend an unnecessary amount of time and effort to get that passed – and this is coming from someone, by the way, whom I’m guessing no one gave more free airtime to pass the Iowa Marriage Amendment than I have the last three years. But I’m not going to tilt at windmills here. At this point it doesn’t make a difference.”
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Let’s just point out the obvious: the National Organization for Marriage could take a few lessons in community organizing from the LGBT community and our allies.
As NOM’s Summer for Marriage tour made its 15th stop today in Sioux City, Iowa, according to a hand count from our friends at NOMTourTracker, 53 NOM supporters gathered in a parking lot (for the third time on this tour!) for yet another “One Man, One Woman” marriage rally.
Meanwhile, One Iowa continued its successful five city “Stand Proud, Vote Proud” tour in Sioux City, as 64 supporters of equality celebrated Iowa’s inclusion of all families.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
The National Organization for Marriage brought its controversial summer tour to Des Moines on Sunday, drawing more than 100 people to the Iowa State Capitol to voice support for traditional marriage.
The rally aimed to gain support for a public vote on the issue of whether states should sanction gay and lesbian marriages.
The organization is on a tour of 19 battleground states and has met with some opposition along the way. About 30 people gathered to protest the rally, but mostly stayed out of the spotlight.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Jeffrey Neary never wanted to campaign. The northwest Iowa judge didn’t know how to respond to the newspaper ads, radio spots or “Vote No” pamphlets calling for his removal after he divorced a lesbian couple in 2003. Judicial ethics rules banned campaigning, except to respond to an attack. Direct fundraising was not an option.
Neary survived that campaign against him six years ago, but judges who face retention votes this year are braced for similar political attacks, in response to the Iowa Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage legal.
At least one group that tried to impeach a Polk County judge in 2007 over a same-sex marriage ruling is considering an effort this fall to boot judges off the bench. Others who opposed that decision say they will encourage supporters to vote “no” on all judges who appear on the November ballot.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
The debate over gay marriage continues to drive the Iowa GOP campaign to regain the Governor’s mansion. When primary voters shunned the anti-gay marriage rhetoric of Bob Vander Plaats, opting instead to nominate former Governor Terry Branstad as their GOP pick, the issued appeared settled.
But while Vander Plaats was the contest’s most vocal opponent of the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in the state, Branstad, a moderate Republican who believes in limited gay rights, is also opposed to the institution.
His pick of state Senator Kim Reynolds as his running mate is seen as a play for more socially conservative voters who supported the candidacy of Vander Plaats.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
A large majority of Iowa Republican primary voters say Iowans should have a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, according to the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.
More than three-quarters of Iowans planning to vote in Tuesday’s Republican primary say Iowans should have a chance to vote on changing the constitution specifically to ban gay marriage.
But the same consensus does not exist for ousting Iowa Supreme Court judges who voted last year to invalidate Iowa’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage. And one-third of the poll respondents say that some Iowans have overreacted on the issue, and that gay marriage in the state is just not that big a deal.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
A group of conservative ministers presented a petition Tuesday calling for candidates for statewide office to declare their opposition to the state’s gay marriage law or risk losing the group’s support.
The petition, signed by 834 Iowa ministers, and an accompanying letter signed by social conservative groups declares that same-sex marriage “is defined by the Bible as immoral and sinful,” and called for lawmakers to define marriage as between a man and a woman only.
The push against a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage comes a week before the June 8 primary election, and organizers made clear they want candidates to know they would pay a price if they oppose referring a constitutional amendment to voters that would overturn the court’s decision.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
One News “reporter” Charlie *I kid you not) Butts is reporting that IFPC Head Bryan English claims that gay marriage is really still illegal in Iowa:
…the Iowa legislature has still taken no action to implement the court’s opinion and put it into law.” He adds that those going through the ceremonies are simply handed a certificate. “These certificates that they’re handing out, both to folks from within the state and folks who are traveling to Iowa from outside of the state, those certificates do not have the legal weight of a real marriage license,” English notes.
Gotta love this latest ploy to overturn marriage equality in the Hawkey State. Going through the legislature hasn’t worked, so let’s close our eyes, stick our fingers in our ears, and go “nah nah nah nah nah.”
