Friday, April 03, 2009

State Supreme Court Smackdown!

The ones getting smacked were the people representing the Polk County Recorder's office, of course! Marriage equality has come to Iowa today, and I couldn't be happier!!!!

I also, being the dork that I am, read the full decision (okay, I skimmed parts of it - I understand the difference between strict scrutiny, rational basis, and intermediate scrutiny, so I just needed to know what they used). It is amazing. Read it here. (The six-page summary for you wusses is here.)

The Iowa Supreme Court took every argument that the Polk County Recorder's office raised and thoroughly ripped them to tiny little shreds. Then they poured gasoline on those shreds and burnt them. Then, they took the ashes, and steamrolled over them. It was a thing of beauty. I love when justices do this - it is devastating and marvelous all at once! I had every confidence that the defendants had a weak case, and boy did it show in this decision. And can I just say, "Thank you!!!" to the justices for their strong, reasoned, principled, and thorough work? A-freakin-mazing.

Also, they nicely made clear that this is about CIVIL MARRIAGE and does not affect RELIGIOUS MARRIAGE in any way. Except that now I don't have to feel that I'm participating in a discriminatory act when I sign opposite-sex marriage licenses. And, of course, I can marry gay and lesbian couples, starting April 24. But all y'all who don't want to perform same-sex marriage and who want to pour on the hate over my gay and lesbian friends still are free to do so.

And it was UNANIMOUS! What a great day to be an Iowan!! God be praised! And thank you, God, for justices who do their work mindful of the firestorm it may create but courageous enough to do their job of interpreting the constitutionality of laws nonetheless.

4 comments:

Pastor Joelle said...

So much for my explanation that the decision is due to "midwestern nice" :-)

Rev. Ryan Lambert said...

I so love your passionate writing about this issue (and most things you post!)

..."every argument that the Polk County Recorder's office raised and thoroughly ripped them to tiny little shreds. Then they poured gasoline on those shreds and burnt them. Then, they took the ashes, and steamrolled over them. It was a thing of beauty."

Great writing and I can hear you speaking those words as you typed them. Thank you for the on-the-ground reporting!

Blessings!

Jocelyn said...

I can't even tell you how excited I am about this. Not as excited as you are, I'm sure. But this is a big deal. One of those days that will go down in the history books. I'm so proud to (sort of) know someone who is a part of it.

Congratulations!!

LiturgyGeek said...

Oh, thank you all! And check out Backbencher's post, which has a nice elucidation of the actual arguments used by the Iowa Supreme Court.