Gays sue Iowa for right to 'marry'

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Six Iowa same-sex couples who want to "marry" filed a lawsuit yesterday, while three Iowa lawmakers pledged to work to pass a constitutional amendment to uphold traditional marriage.

The lawsuit, filed in Iowa District Court for Polk County, makes Iowa the seventh state with a same-sex "marriage" lawsuit. The other states are California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Washington.

"This lawsuit is about fairness and equality," said Camilla Taylor, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund lawyer who is representing the six Iowa couples.

Iowa has thousands of same-sex couples, she said. "Since marriage is the way the government provides protection, support and respect for families, it is only fair that these couples be able to marry."

However, Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, Senate Co-President Jeff Lamberti and Senate Co-Majority Leader Stewart Iverson, all Republicans, joined a conservative group in calling for a constitutional marriage amendment.

"The people of Iowa should decide this issue, not a handful of unelected judges," said Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center.

In Iowa, only lawmakers can put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. This year, the Republican-led Iowa House passed a marriage amendment, but the measure has languished in a Senate committee. The Iowa Senate is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, with 25 members each.

The Senate can call up the amendment proposal in January, which is what conservatives want, Mr. Hurley said. An Iowa marriage amendment must be approved by two legislative sessions, which makes 2007 the earliest it could go to voters, he said.

In 2003, Mr. Hurley's group protested District Court Judge Jeffrey Neary's decision to grant a "divorce" to two lesbians with a Vermont civil union. The group, as well as a state lawmaker, a church and U.S. Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, asked the Iowa Supreme Court to address the case.

In June, Iowa's high court declined to hear the case, saying the lawmakers and their allies didn't have legal standing to bring it.

Elsewhere, four same-sex "marriage" lawsuits have been settled:

• In Massachusetts, the homosexual couples won their case in November 2003 when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court agreed that they had a right to "marry." More than 6,500 same-sex couples have "married" in the state since May 2004, when the landmark Goodridge ruling went into effect.

• In Indiana, the homosexual couples lost their case at the appellate level in January and decided not to appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.

• In Oregon, voters passed an amendment outlawing same-sex "marriage" in 2004 before the Oregon Supreme Court had ruled on the homosexual couples' case. The court subsequently upheld the amendment and rejected their case.

• In Arizona, a homosexual couple brought a "marriage" lawsuit to the Arizona Court of Appeals, which denied their claims in 2003. The Arizona Supreme Court later declined to take their case.