At least that’s the word on the street, according to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM.) With same-sex marriage having been legalized in five states, NOM is telling anyone who will listen about the perils of equal marriage rights and how they will destroy society and everyone will marry goats (something like that, at least).
Thankfully, few people are listening. It is a shocking turn of events for the antigay movement, who just six months ago were basking in the glory of passing Proposition 8 in California, overturning the Supreme Court’s decision to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples. For the GLBT community, which has gotten used to losing elections, Prop 8 stung, and harshly. Not only did it take rights away that had already been given to us, but it also made us think the worst: If we can’t win in California, where can we?”
We were demoralized and angry, both at the bigots who defeated us with lies and deceit, but also with our own political leaders, who seemed to not know how to win any elections.
But then something strange happened. We started winning—a lot—and in places we never would have expected, especially not so soon after Prop 8. For this, we can thank a woman named Camilla Taylor.
Flashback to 2002 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is still two years away from its groundbreaking marriage equality ruling, and dozens of states are passing constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Taylor is a young attorney for Lambda Legal, a pro-GLBT legal resource center, and is tasked with choosing a state to sue, in order to get an equal marriage case to their Supreme Court.
This is a complex task—finding plaintiffs (gay couples and their children), researching various state Constitutions, and dissecting at the make up of each State Supreme Court and its history in siding with disenfranchised groups.
After weighing her options, Taylor made a startling decision: the best chance to overturn a statewide marriage ban was not Connecticut or California or New York, but Iowa.
Yes, that Iowa.
In retrospect, the choice was brilliant. Iowa has always been on the forefront of civil rights cases. It was the first state to let women practice law, one of the first to allow interracial marriage and declare that a slave was a person, not property. It was even a pioneer in school desegregation.
After 3 years of research, Taylor filed a case with six couples as plaintiffs, from every region of the state. In 2007, a district court ruled in favor of equal marriage, and on April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Varnum v. Brien.
The decision, written by a Republican appointee, was expansive and remarkably understandable. After discussing Iowa’s historic role in civil rights, Justice Mark Cady writes: “We are firmly convinced that the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important government objective. The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”
In layman’s terms: “Suck on that, James Dobson.”
The decision in Varnum was unexpected to almost everyone but Taylor, who herself is not gay, but married to a man. She was sure that Iowa was their best chance for victory, and the Court’s 5-0 decision proved her right.
Despite the protestations of antigay organizations (and a certain surgically-enhanced Miss California), same-sex marriage in Iowa met little resistance. Legislators in other states got to thinking: If Iowa can do it, why not us? State lawmakers in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, and New York introduced equal marriage legislation within one month of the ruling in Varnum.
In Vermont, the Legislature had to contend with a Republican Governor, Jim Douglas, who vowed to veto any marriage equality bill. House and Senate leadership introduced one anyway, and it passed, but a few votes short of the two-thirds necessary to override a veto.
Unsurprisingly, Governor Douglas kept his word and vetoed the bill. But then, several state legislators switched their votes, from “No” to “Yes.” The veto was overridden by a single vote, and Vermont became equality state number four, after Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa.
Next came Maine. Like Vermont, they already had civil unions. Democratic Governor John Baldacci himself campaigned against same-sex marriage. Both Houses of the Maine legislature quickly passed marriage equality legislation, by comfortable margins. As this was happening, Baldacci began to temper in his opposition, stating in the press that he was “open to changing his mind.”
Then he actually did. He signed the bill, without fuss, within twenty minutes of it reaching his desk. It was a shocking result from someone who four months prior promised to veto the legislation.
New Hampshire? Governor John Lynch says he “personally opposes same-sex marriage,” but agreed to sign a slightly modified version of a bill from the New Hampshire legislature. Several minor changes are currently pending, but marriage equality should be signed into law by June 1, 2009.
Six months after Prop 8, and five states (almost seven) have equal marriage rights. A challenge to Prop 8 should be decided by the California Supreme Court within weeks. Though prospects look dim that the measure will be overturned, couples that wed before Prop 8’s passage, almost 18,000 of them, look likely to retain their marriage rights.
Now that we are winning, we must decide where to go next. New York and New Jersey are the most discussed, along with Minnesota and Washington, which has full domestic partnership rights for gay couples. One thing is still unknown: Camilla Taylor has yet to announce which state she would target next. She’s too busy going to the dozens of marriage ceremonies in Iowa to which she has been invited. After she gets done, let’s sincerely hope she gets back to work, and fast. Now that we have the momentum, we simply cannot squander it. M