Ami and Ruby in Iowa

In honor of our married state, as of this afternoon when we got to Iowa, this contest will concern the Hawkeye State.

Iowa was once part of the French colony, New France, and takes its name from one of the tribes that predate the white folks, the Ioway. Its western border is marked by the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers, the eastern by the Mississippi.

Sixty-one percent of Iowa’s three million people live in urban areas–this is the result of a decrease in reliance on agriculture to support the economy. But in case you are worried, there is still plenty of corn to be found here.

The state motto of Iowa is “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.” It is in this spirit, perhaps, that in 2007, Judge Robert Hanson of Polk County District Court decided for the plaintiffs in Varnum v. Brien. Six couples had sued the county recorder for his refusal to grant them marriage licenses. In 2009 the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld his decision.

Said the court:

“Our responsibility, however, is to protect constitutional rights of individuals from legislative enactments that have denied those rights, even when the rights have not yet been broadly accepted, were at one time unimagined, or challenge a deeply ingrained practice or law viewed to be impervious to the passage of time.”

On April 27, 2009 Iowa began granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Eighty-four applications had been filed by 4 p.m. that day.

So, to win this contest, tell me a fun fact about Iowa. Or about marriage. Or about marriage in Iowa. You decide. The winner will be picked at random from all the entrants. (Don’t worry, you can look it up–I did.)

What will you win? Why, your very own souvenir of this great state of Iowa. We’re not sure what it’ll be yet, but we have good taste in tchotchkes–as good as our taste in wives.

We’ll pick the winner tomorrow night, late. You’ve got time.

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