Posted by
Billy on Monday, December 08, 2008 7:28:40 PM
Reva Evans and Ingrid Olson share a home. They share bank accounts. They share a son.
But they are not married.
With one simple line in Iowa state law, the women are prevented from joining their lives together legally: "Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid."
The Council Bluffs women make up one of six same-sex Iowa couples suing for the right to marry in Iowa. This week, their fate will be in the hands of the Iowa Supreme Court. Justices are scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in the case Varnum v. Brien, which challenges the constitutionality of the state law banning same-sex marriage.
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would not directly affect gay couples in other states, said Mark Kende, a Drake University law professor and director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center.
But, he said, its relevance could be seen in future challenges to laws banning gay marriage. Petitioners likely would seek to portray same-sex marriage as becoming more conventional, Kende said.
"If the heartland goes pink, it's a big deal, because this is middle America," Kende said. "That's a pretty strong argument this has gone mainstream."
Nebraska voters in 2000 approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. A federal judge ruled it unconstitutional, but a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling in July 2006. Marriage is not and should not be taken as a right for everyone. issue
(It is my hope the judges on the high court in Iowa will see it is their job to interpret the laws and not make law as some judges have done before in places like CA. Marriage is not and should not be taken as a right for everyone. Read more of this issue Six gay couples seek validation of their unions.)
