IA Senate Majority Leader Gronstal on amendment to reverse Supreme Court Ruling

Wow, stellar!

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by: Lurleen @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 13:56:48 PM CDT

He gets it

Our many thanks to him and his daughter for saying what needed to be said to the rabid right.

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by: bkmn @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:37:20 PM CDT

I could cry

This is beautiful. I want to send him and his daughter flowers.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:44:32 PM CDT

Yep

Exactly

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by: mammab @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:50:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I *did* cry.

Just a little bit.

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by: M @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 15:06:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Me Too

It was beautiful...and beautifully said.

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by: Fiona @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 16:03:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yeah, I'm late to the party, but instead of flowers

Mike needs this more: https://secure.dlccweb.com/o/1...

Remember what FDR said, "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." Have you written/called a congress-critter today? 8.25, 6.21

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by: Jacques @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 19:49:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you!

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal took a stand and expressed simply the significance of the states recognition of love.  Please take some time and send him a thank you. The opposition will not stop and use any and all means to impede or reverse the progress our community makes.  

Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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by: T2inDC @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:53:59 PM CDT

No way to undo Marriage Equality in Iowa,

  Unless the Senate Majority Leader decides to co-sponsor amendment legislation and start the ball rolling.  Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said the reason he will not move on amendment legislation (Which brought tears to my eyes) Shrot, Sweet, and to the point.  He left no real way to attack him on this position.  They will come at him with the same garbage.  His fellow legislators better listen to his daughter, 'The younger generation doesn't care if Gays and Lesbians get Married.'

 It is a slow process, but young people know LGBT people and they know we are not the evil people the christian liars claim we are.  LGBT people are said to be the pedophiles, but look where the latest sexual predator bust came from, Focus on the Family.

 And yeah, I did access my daughters' accounts and sent an announcement of the Focus on the Anus bust titled, Warn your parents of what happens in christian organizations.  HEHEHE

 So the Fundies will kick, scream and throw their tantrums as they continue to become irrelevant to the younger generation and seen as nothing but the hate filled bigots they are.  

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 16:16:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just lovely

That's one I'd like to send around to my conservative loved ones.

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by: amyruth @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:57:38 PM CDT

The Des Moines Register is stirring up the amendment frenzy

The Des Moines Register is reporting on ALL the ways that a anti-marriage amendment can be passed.  They are REALLY pushing for an amendment.

They say that a constitutional convention can be called in the 2010 election that could put an amendment on the ballot by 2011.

They are also encouraging everyone to pressure the governor and their legislators to vote on an amendment.  They point to their survey that showed that 60% of Iowans support man/woman only marriage.

It's really sickening how this newspaper is actively trying to thwart justice and fairness in the state of Iowa.

Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as optimistic as others are about this ruling sticking.  I'm hearing a lot of the same claims made that were made about California.  I'm VERY worried that this will be nothing but a huge disruption in the state of Iowa until the haters get their vote and I'm not at all optimistic about the outcome of such a vote.

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by: Zeke @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 16:18:24 PM CDT

No doubt we will have to fight to keep

  Marriage Legal in Iowa.  As long as the Fundies are out trying to undo this ruling we must stay vigilant.  But the fact that younger people are in favor of SSM or don't care is on our side.

 I grew up in the 70s and 80s.  Voting wasn't on the radar screen for so many people.  Younger kids today grew up with two wars going on, the major one Iraq.  The truth is coming out what was behind invading Iraq and these kids are listening and voting.  

 Sure there is going to be pressure put on the Governor and Legislators, it needs to be coming from us too.  

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 16:50:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I am.

3 years is a long time, a lot longer than the time from court ruling to Prop 8 in California. If they start the campaign now, people will be burned out by 2012 and that's likely the real earliest date of a referendum. And with that time, people will also realize like in MA that they just really don't care that much and the sky didn't fall and there weren't a bunch of dead molested children and suddenly dying farm animals and hey, didn't the economy start doing gangbusters when all the midwest queers came in to get hitched and look for Iowa tourism?

Plus, in CA, no one really believed it was going to stick and thus Prop 8 seemed more like the main event, it could be more easily misconstrued as denying a right from existing. With the time passed on this one it will feel more directly like deliberately taking someone else's rights away and at that point, the 60% isn't quite as strong and is really struggling for 40%. Plus, if the dominos keep falling, the Christians are going to look more and more impotent and won't be able to fund direct campaigns against a handful of states, most where they're forcing their opponents to do most of the work on defense like with the gay marriage constitution bans.

No, as he says, they've already lost. The paper knows it can't change it and frankly, the bill has a lot better chance of survival than the paper given how print is doing these days.

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by: Cerberus @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 17:15:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The weird part is...

...the editorial page was supportive of the decision (See http://www.desmoinesregister.c... One wonders if the publisher or the muck-i-mucks at Gannett (which owns the Register) got their knickers in a twist and have been behind the news coverage of these stories. Today's headline on the print edition noted that voters can force a constitutional convention in Iowa (this can happen every ten years, but generally doesn't). It didn't ask, "Will they do so?", but rather stated affirmatively that it could be done. Things that make you go, "Hmmm."

Of course the fundies and their allies will go for this route--and every other one they find--but with Gov. Culver backing off his threats of yore, and with Sen. Gronstal standing up as he has, the wingnuts are running out of options. In the interim, with more couples getting married, and as the state gets income from out-of-staters from the Midwest who come here to marry, people will see the sky doesn't fall (Hell, we've had a gay couple legally married in this state for some time, since a couple of ISU students beat Judge Hansen's initial stay, and life has gone on). Not that any of us should take this for granted, but the economy may trump the culture war, instead of fueling it. Knock wood.

"More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read." -- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

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by: Switchhttr69 @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 00:26:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The public is going to be hearing a lot more about the distinction between

civil marriage and religious marriage.  That's the tack that Gov Culver of Iowa took in his recent statement explaining why he will be respecting the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court and not be supporting an effort to amend the state constitution.

..."At the outset, I want to emphasize that the question before the Iowa Supreme Court was one of civil marriage only - a state-recognized legal status constituting a civil contract. Civil marriage always has been, and will continue to be, separate from religious marriage that takes place in churches and places of worship.

"As I have stated before, I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a tenet of my personal faith. The Iowa Supreme Court's decision has, in fact, reaffirmed that churches across Iowa will continue to have the right to recognize the sanctity of religious marriage in accordance with their own traditions and church doctrines. The Supreme Court's decision does not require that churches recognize marriages between persons of the same gender or officiate over such unions. The Court does not have, nor should any court ever have, that kind of power over our religious lives. Our churches and places of worship are free to decide for themselves, as they were before, who may enter the sacred covenant of marriage. As the Supreme Court's decision states, 'The sanctity of all religious marriages celebrated in the future will have the same meaning as those celebrated in the past.'

"Yet, the Supreme Court of Iowa, in a unanimous decision, has clearly stated that the Constitution of our state, which guarantees equal protection of the law to all Iowans, requires the State of Iowa to recognize the civil marriage contract of two people of the same gender. The Court also concluded that the denial of this right constitutes discrimination. Therefore, after careful consideration and a thorough reading of the Court's decision, I am reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory.

"As Governor, I must respect the authority of the Iowa Supreme Court, and have a duty to uphold the Constitution of the State of Iowa. I also fully respect the right of all Iowans to live under the full protection of Iowa's Constitution...
http://www.desmoinesregister.c...

I think we need to keep hammering the distinction between civil and religious marriage home.  It may outrage us that our leaders keep spouting the one man-one woman crap.  But if they couple the bs with an explanation like the one above, then it paves the way for future successes.

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by: Pollyanna @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 18:26:31 PM CDT

Leadership? From Politicians?

It's absolutely shocking and at the same time gratifying to see both the Senate Majority Leader and Governor of Iowa showing real leadership on this. Sure, it would be great if the Governor were as supportive, but neither of them are allowing mere public opinion to guide them, and that is so refreshing. I am so sick of hearing politicians claim they have to follow the public rather than lead on marriage. There are times when those who govern are required to do what is best for the country, not what is popular, and they too often fail. Congrats to these two men for passing that particular test.  

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by: CPT_Doom @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 19:14:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wow, that's one of the best

declarations/statements from an elected official (where''god is in the mix" Prez on this) distinguishing between civil and church marriage.....
Churches refusing to recognize legal committed relationships between anyone, just getting way out of step with what it is to live in the real world, live in the now and today.
Thanks Gov Culver.

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 19:55:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So beautiful that

I linked it on my blog too.

We have more friends than we know.  

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by: David Ehrenstein @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 19:40:35 PM CDT