Iowa, Vermont Legalize Gay Marriage

Vermont Legislature Overrode Veto to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

Apr 8, 2009

Vermont became the first state in the nation to allow gay marriage through a law, just a few days after the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a law banning gay marriage.

There are now four states in the nation that allow gay marriage, but many more battlegrounds. The first three – Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa – all used the court system, while Vermont used the state Legislature.

Both houses of the Vermont legislature voted on April 7 to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of the law, which will allow gay and lesbian couples to marry by Sept. 1, 2009, according to an Associated Press article by Dave Gram. The step seems appropriate the New England state, which in 2000 became the first state to allow civil between for homosexual couples.

Each house in the Vermont Legislature needed a two-thirds vote to override Douglas, who was the only major politician opposed to the law, according to the article. The state Senate voted 23-5, but the override just eked by the House with a vote of 100-49.

Iowa’s Legal Battle

In Iowa, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on April 1 that a state law that limited marriage to being between a man and a woman violated the constitutionally given equal protection under law; gays and lesbians in the Midwestern state may be able to legally marry as early as April 24.

According to the ruling, the law was “unconstitutional because the County has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage. A new distinction based on sexual orientation would be equally suspect …

“Consequently, the language … limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman must be stricken from the statute, and the remaining statutory language must be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.”

Although a victory for the gay rights community, Iowa’s court decision had less impact than a previous decision in California, according to a Time writer Michael Lindenberger. Because the Supreme Court ruled that the statute failed a lesser level of constitutional analysis, or intermediate scrutiny, the question of a higher level of scrutiny being required for future laws was not addressed.

Iowa is now the only state not in New England where gay marriage is legal; Connecticut and Massachusetts also allow it. Bills similar to Vermont’s are before the state legislatures in New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine and New York. The battleground states are spanning the nation, however, and many other states are dealing with this issue.

From Florida to California, the Debate Continues

California’s controversial Proposition 8, which voters passed in November by a margin of about four percentage points, is still in place. Shortly after the Nov. 4 election, Prop. 8 opponents turned out by the thousands to protest groups they felt were instrumental in the bill’s passage. In the same election, both Arizona and Florida voters passed similar changes to the state constitutions.

In New Mexico, the state Senate voted down a domestic partnership bill, which would have granted the same administrative privileges, such as the ability to take time off work to care for a sick partner or to make end-of-life decisions, to both homosexual and heterosexual unmarried couples. The bill, which comes up every year, passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee with the deciding vote being cast by Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, who then voted against the bill on the Senate floor.

Nationally, though, the federal government is staying out of it. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman and allows state to not recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. President Barack Obama has given no indication that he intends to overturn that law. So for now, the battles will stay local.

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