Iowa's Gay Marriage Ruling Today

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Source: Des Moines Register

Social conservatives and gay rights supporters are braced for a landmark Iowa Supreme Court decision that could strengthen the state's decade-old marriage law or allow same-sex couples to wed.

Both sides today will learn the result of a four-year legal battle that has catapulted Iowa into the national spotlight. The result, advocates and legal scholars said Thursday, will likely echo across America - no matter what the high court concludes.

"It will have a tremendous impact nationally," Camilla Taylor, a senior attorney for the gay rights group Lambda Legal, said Thursday. "Iowa is our nation's heartland. We're tremendously optimistic that the court will recognize the rights of same-sex couples."

Other high court decisions that favor gay marriage have come from traditionally liberal, coastal states such as California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Yet a ruling that upholds the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, would amount to a major setback for the gay rights movement and a victory for social conservatives who argue that same-sex marriage threatens traditional families.

more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090403/NEWS/904030360/-1/ENT06

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