04 April 2009

i'm as american as iowa

it must be a spring thing. april 2009 is turning out to be a good month for the gays - just like may was in 2008.

a few days ago, the fine legislators of vermont saw fit to continue pushing through a marriage bill and are working to organize votes to override a promised gubernatorial veto. however, as abby goodnough pointed out in the times today - new england is at the center of the gay marriage fight so it should really come as no surprise.

so then maybe the surprise is the ruling by the IOWA supreme court that lesbians and gays should have the right to marry. but these boys and girl (just one, but she is the chief!) didn't just say "hey, play nice heteros. stop picking on the homos and let them get married." no, these jurists said -

"we are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective"

oh snap! doesn't really leave any room for interpretation, does it!

i leave you with the link to scott simon's commentary from this morning's weekend edition and my favorite quote from his musing -

"whatever the final result may be, it seems to me that the decision reminds us that gay life in america is not confined to certain zip codes of lower manhattan, west hollywood, miami's south beach and chicago's lakeview. it is as american as iowa."

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