The news is fascinating and indeed heartening from Iowa. That state's supreme court has - unanimously! - struck down a ban on gay marriage.
Gay marriage will be legal in the Hawkeye State in three weeks' time. Iowa becomes the first mid-western state to make such a move. Fifteen or 25 years from now, when gay marriage is legal throughout America (except maybe the South) and we're all wondering what the big deal was (except maybe ... the South), we may well look back on this day as momentous. Iowa ain't Massachusetts.
As always with these rulings, it's a two-edged sword politically. It'll bring the religious right out of the woodwork. But obviously one has to celebrate it.
Meanwhile, there's still lots of public education that needs doing. This is from the Des Moines Register piece on the ruling, linked to above:
Craig Overton's jaw dropped when he heard the news. He's opposed to same-sex
marriage, he said. Overton, of Pleasant Hill, had been carrying signs before the result was known. He was stunned to hear the news; his arm holding the signs dropped until the signs were resting on the sidewalk."I don't want this taught in schools," Overton said. "Animals don't do that..."
Au contraire, Comrade Overton!
