Breaking: Iowa Court Approves Same-Sex Marriage

The Hawkeye State?

The Iowa Supreme Court today declared unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for Iowa to join two other states in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

In a unanimous decision, the seven-member court upheld a lower court's ruling in August 2007 that a 1998 state law limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.

... same-sex couples likely will be able to obtain marriage licenses in Iowa in three weeks, attorneys for the plaintiffs said.

... With the Supreme Court decision, Iowa becomes the third state in the nation, after Massachusetts and Connecticut, to permit same-sex marriage.

... Bryan English, a spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, which opposes same-sex marriage, said the group would immediately begin pushing for a referendum on the issue. (WaPo)

And the stuggle moves into America's heartland.