Sunday, April 5, 2009

After Iowa: What now?

I'm still reeling from the news Friday that the Iowa Supreme Court has struck down the law in Iowa that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. And it was a unanimous decision -- not one justice dissented. I'm not sure what I expected to happen, but I certainly never imagined a unanimous decision declaring the law unconstitutional. I'm having a hard time believing that not one justice in the "breadbasket of America" defended the traditional definition of marriage. Some legislators, though, are doing what one might expect in the heartland: mobilizing to amend the Iowa Constitution. House Joint Resolution 6 would alter the Iowa Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. I imagine this would work like Proposition 8 did in California, then, except that the process in Iowa for amending the Constitution is much more difficult. Apparently, an amendment must pass two consecutive sessions of the legislature in order to get on the ballot, and then the citizens get to vote. This will take at least 2 years (and that's if HJR 6 can get to the floor for a vote before the legislature adjourns their session in less than one month.)

So what now, then? I guess we roll up our sleeves and keep fighting.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Alert: Iowa Supreme Court Decision Expected Tomorrow

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost 2 months! I am the worst blogger ever. (I'll try to be better, but I was busy -- being a good mom. Both of the kids had a horrible flu and gave it to us and now, after many prescriptions, gallons of orange juice, and a case of Lysol, we are finally back on the path to wellness. Thank goodness!) I got an email alert this morning that I knew I had to post:

According to the Iowa Supreme Court's webpage, they expect to release their Varnum v. Brien decision tomorrow! I know we have all been hoping and praying for this to go our way and continue to "make our case" to other Americans about the values of the people, so it's going to be hard to wait one more day, but at least we know it's just one more day now.

In the meantime, I plan to tune in to Beetlebabee's blogtalkradio show today at 2:00 PST to help pass the time.