Lambda Legal has dropped a very juicy quote about the upcoming equal marriage case in the Iowa Supreme Court Case:
Last year County Judge Robert Hanson ruled that [Iowa's ban on same-sex marriage] violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection....
Lambda Legal, which represents the six couples said it is cautiously optimistic the Supreme Court will uphold Hanson’s ruling. Lambda attorney Camilla Taylor noted that the Iowa court traditionally has led the nation on civil rights issues, pointing out that the Iowa justices struck down a ban on interracial marriage more than a century before the U.S. Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional.
"This is not even a close constitutional call," Taylor told The Des Moines Register. "If you examine the law in other states, the case law in Iowa is at least as strong, if not stronger. The Iowa Supreme Court has made it clear from its inception that the law includes broader guarantees of equality than federal law.
The Iowa Supreme Court case is this Tuesday @ 10am & will be open to the public according to the receptionist I spoke with. The room that will be available to the public is "The Auditorium". Space may be filled quickly, however inclement weather is expected. You can call the Iowa Supreme Court for more information on public access at (515)281-5174.
Additionally, Iowa Station KCCI will be hosting a live webcam of the proceedings. Watch History In The Making.
What would this mean for the marriage equality movement? The freepers won't be able to claim that queer rights is a quaint "coastal elite" enjoyment, along with expensive double moccha lattes and French wine with cavier.
Iowa is a Midwestern state, no ifs and or buts around it. It is in the heart of the coming battle for marriage equality. I am confident that in 5 years time, All of New England, California and some other coastal states will ring with marriage equality. When these victories are secure, the states often neglected by the LGBT rights national organizations will be ground zero for the marriage equality fight.
The earlier we get a victory in the Midwest, the more time our national organizations have to organize in those states before they become the main focus of the marriage equality movement.
This is about more than marriage, this is about money. The amount of money that we will see pouring into some of these states to support equality will be unprecedented. We will be building a queer infrastructure that will exist well beyond the marriage equality fight.
This means a lot. Barack Obama famously said:
The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.
We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.
The future of LGBT activism is "Red State Queer Activism" (although in this case, Iowa is very much a blue state).
Our movement for long enough has been confined to the "gay ghettos" of the coasts and small bastions scattered in other parts of the country.
Our next priority is organizing the existing LGBT infrastructure in Southern and Midwestern states. the Marriage equality movement will push us in that direction.
It's time to reach out to those "gay [and trans] friends in the red states". Our National LGBT movement is about to more closely resemble an actual national movement.