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Edited on Thu Apr-02-09 10:45 PM by ccharles000
(Des Moines, Iowa) The Iowa Supreme Court announced Thursday it will issue its long awaited ruling on same-sex marriage Friday morning.
The court heard arguments in December in a challenge to the state ban on same-sex marriage.
In 2007, Polk County Judge Robert Hanson struck down the state Defense of Marriage law, declaring it to be unconstitutional. Later the same day Hanson stayed the ruling, pending an appeal.
Arguing before the high court in December, Assistant Polk County Attorney Roger Kuhle told the justices that Hanson had overstepped his authority.
Kuhle also said that state support of same-sex marriage would damage traditional marriage, arguing that it would indicate to future generations that marriage is no longer about procreation.
Lambda Legal attorney Camilla Taylor, representing the six couples who are challenging the ban on gay marriage, told the court that the law violates Iowa’s constitution.
Taylor said that the constitution protects gay people’s rights to due process and equal protection.
Meanwhile, legislation that would make marriage gender neutral in Iowa appears dead after it became one of several bills stripped from the list of measures to be taken up by lawmakers this session.
While it remains possible the bill could reemerge near the end of the session most political observers believe it has little chance of being taken up.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Matt McCoy. It would have replaced the words that define a couple as husband and wife under Iowa’s marriage law with spouse.
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