Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Friday, August 31, 2007

Field of Dreams

Hey, RBR - what's up with gay marriage in Iowa?

10 comments:

Raised By Republicans said...

Well, here is a link to the latest development:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS/70831018/1001&lead=1

Essentially, a Polk County judge ruled that a state law banning gay marriage violates the Iowa state Constitution.

That happened earlier this week. Since then a marriages has taken place (between two Iowa State students actually) and the Judge has issued a stay on his own ruling. There has also been a surge of people applying for marriage liscences.

I don't know how this will play out. This state is even divided between Democrats and Republicans but the Republicans are likely to be more unified in their opposition than the Democrats are in their support for Gay marriage.

Alot of the Democrats in Iowa are union voters who are often fairly conservative socially (but can surprise you from time to time). That said, a lot of the Republicans are of the "live and let live"/libertarian variety but can also revert to traditional social conservativism from time to time.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the case will go to the State Supreme Court where it will be a big issue in both the Democratic and Republican Primary. I'm sure the Democrats would rather it not work out that way.

Of course the Republican reaction will be to see who can be the most homophobic without actually advocating criminalizing homosexuality again.

Raised By Republicans said...

By the way, in case you were wondering what the dominent branch of the GOP thinks of Gays, the war on Terror, Iran etc....Here is a quotation from a Montana State Senator that is making the rounds in the blogospher (I got it from Daily Kos)

"As a Republican state senator in Montana and as a human being, I am offended by Senator Craig's existence. Why oh why are most of the perverts that get caught Republicans? Are there more of them or are they just stupid? The thought of a US Senator chasing love in all the wrong places makes me think longingly of the Ayotollahs in Iran. They would just kill the turkey."

I'm reminded of a Swedish conservative election campaign poster I once saw. It showed a Soviet Tank attacking a crowd in Prague in 1968 with the caption: "Same Communists Here as There."

This guy from Montana may well wish for the Iranian Theocracy. And that is exactly why we must stamp out the religification of politics in this country.

Only by reestablishing (I won't say preserve) the complete seperation of Church and State along the lines envisioned by Jefferson and Madison can we restore our Democracy.

The Law Talking Guy said...

Apparently the judge just stayed his order. Only one gay couple actually got married in the interim. It will be interesting in primary season.

Dr. Strangelove said...

Thanks for catching this story--I missed it until I saw it here. I wonder if gay marriage will be an issue for the next Supreme Court nominee?

Anonymous said...

Well, wouldn't is be wonderful in the next Supreme Bourt Nominee were gay! It's a dream, I know, but fun to think about.

Dr. Strangelove said...

An openly gay nominee would be a stunning choice. I stress "openly" to avoid quibbles with those who believe certain rumors about Souter...

Raised By Republicans said...

We'll see a Gay justice years before we see an openly Atheist one.

The Christo-pinkos on the left and Christo-fascists on the right will never give up their death grip on public office.

The Law Talking Guy said...

It didn't help that the communists proclaimed atheism as a primary doctrine. That made atheism even more unpalatable because it was perceived as pinko. It also smacks of cultural elitism to some. So dislike of "atheism" is not restricted to the devout.

Raised By Republicans said...

Oh, then it must be ok then.

The true cultural elite in this country are big money institutions that use religion to dupe the masses into voting for crooks waving bibles.

The Law Talking Guy said...

RBR, my point is that the popular antipathy to "atheism" has much broader cultural roots and resonance than just the fact that atheists don't believe in God.

Pretty much everyone I know says things like "I don't go to any church but I'm a spiritual person." Those people are basically atheists - they just don't IDENTIFY as being "atheists" for cultural reasons. I mean, who wants to say they are not spiritual? Sounds like they are dull or heartless. An "atheist" is also someone who is really certain there's no supreme being, or who thinks it's really important to be an atheist, whereas most people I see would probably say "I don't believe in God, but, you know, what-ever..."

My point is that just because people don't publicly identify themselves as atheists doesn't mean they either (a) believe in God or (b) think there's anything wrong with not believing in God.