People at the event were warm and welcoming, and all very proud of their home state. As Janelle Rettig, a married lesbian running for a County Supervisor seat in 2010, told us, “I know that when they heard the news about marriage equality in Iowa everywhere else in the country, people responded, ‘Iowa?’ But we weren’t surprised.” She said there was a clause in the Iowa State Constitution that mandated that no laws or rights should apply to one group of people and not another. They take their equality seriously around here.

Janelle and her spouse Robin married in Canada a number of years ago. With the marriage equality decision, their marriage is now recognized in their home state. Another couple who were at a Transcendental Meditation table had just married in September. One half of the couple had been raised on Whidbey Island in Washington State. She proudly told us that they had married after eight years together. A third woman, Linda Kroon, who was at the event representing multiple groups, said she and her spouse tied the knot legally 10 years to the day after their first, unrecognized wedding. “That way we don’t have two anniversaries to remember.”

Janelle and her table actively recruited us to move to Iowa. I don’t know if that’s in the cards for us, but full legal rights are tempting.

We also talked to a man at the One Iowa table, a group working to–among other things–preserve the right to marry. “There are people in this state trying to overturn the marriage equality law, just like in California.”

As we were leaving, we heard some people joking at the registration table. “Marriage equality?” someone said, “That’s so last year.”

What rights to Iowan LGBT people have? I’m glad you asked.

• In a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court gave same-sex couples in Iowa the right to marry on April 3, 2009. The ruling took effect on April 27, 2009. [via The Des Moines Register]
• Unmarried same-sex partners can grant each other rights to make medical decisions via a durable power of attorney for health care. Married same-sex partners don’t need this document.
• Any single adult may adopt in Iowa. There is no prohibition against unmarried same-sex partners jointly adopting or adopting each other’s children. Married same-sex partners can jointly adopt and adopt each other’s children.
• After sex reassignment surgery, with a physician’s affidavit, Iowa will issue a new birth certificate.
• Iowa hate crimes laws protect sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
• In Iowa you may not discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Safe schools laws in Iowa provide protection for LGBT youth. [via GLSEN] [all others via HRC unless otherwise noted]

Obviously the work is not over, but legally, it looks pretty good in Iowa for LGBT people these days. Congratulations to all who made these laws happen.

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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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