Furby Wranglings

Iowa Supreme Court considers gay marriage ban
Posted Online: Dec. 09, 2008, 11:05 pm


DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An attorney for a half dozen gay couples challenging Iowa's same-sex marriage ban argued Tuesday before the state supreme court that the law violates his clients' constitutional rights.

'We are suggesting that everybody be able to participate equally in an institution that has existed since the beginning of this state,' said former Iowa Solicitor General Dennis Johnson. 'My clients have exactly the same constitutional rights as everybody else, (but) they choose to marry someone of the same sex.'

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney... argued that the function of marriage throughout history has been procreation, and that having a mother and father is the optimal situation for raising a child. Allowing same-sex marriage would, over time, harm the institution of marriage and teach people that it's not necessary, he said.

'I think it's a legitimate fear at this point ... when you have the state encouraging same-sex marriage, it's teaching that marriage is no longer about procreation — that that's not a primary or even a central function and it's not an important function of marriage, that marriage is just the commitment between two people,' Kuhle said.

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Seriously???? and I've been thinking that the main purpose of marriage might be, oh, mutual companionship, emotional support, financial security.... stuff like that. After all, doesn't the growing number of unwed mothers and single parent families over the past couple of decades sort of indicate that marriage and procreation AREN'T exactly co-dependent anymore (if they ever were)?
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Johnson argued the state has already recognized that same-sex couples can adopt, serve as foster parents and that sexual orientation has no place in custody decisions.

'This state has already basically adopted a policy that same-sex parents are satisfactory,' he said.

He also noted that the state allows convicted sex offenders and pedophiles to marry 'without even blinking an eye' yet his clients, who are good parents, are denied the access and benefits of marriage.

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Oh yeah.... let's let the druggies and the convicted murderers get married and/or procreate willy-nilly, but law-abiding tax-paying citizen who happen to share a gender --- Oh horrors! Think of the children!!!!! Better that they should be abused or neglected in single parent or broken-by-divorce homes than cherished,protected and nurtured by two loving same-gender parents!!!!!

(And in case you can't figure it out, THAT was sarcasm)
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Lawsuit plaintiffs Dawn and Jen BarbouRoske, of Iowa City, said they want the same recognition given to other married couples.

'We're confident that the court will recognize we are a loving family that needs the loving legal marriage within our family,' Dawn BarbouRoske said. 'That's what it's about is that we love one another — that human right to love and to marry, and to be respected for that.'

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God, I hope so!