News

State Representative Chris Hagenow of Windsor Heights led the charge today seeking to exclude married gay and lesbian couples from a domestic abuse bill.

The attempt failed after Speaker of the House Pat Murphy ruled the move "non-germane" to the bill at hand and a procedural attempt to suspend the rules and bring the matter to the floor failed largely along party lines.

From the Des Moines Register

From Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson:

The three Republican candidates for governor each spoke, briefly, at an Iowa Christian Alliance event earlier tonight. Former Governor Terry Branstad was the first of the three to speak and he began by reminding the crowd that while he was governor, he signed a number of abortion restrictions into law as well as the Defense of Marriage Act.

From Iowa Public Television's Iowa Journal

In his book, "Founding Brothers," Joseph J. Ellis states that the debate between freedom and equality was written into the American constitution.

In that spirit, we are looking at the constitutional debate Iowans are talking about: whether to change Iowa's constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, effectively excluding same sex couples from using that terminology. 

Iowa Independent's Jason Hancock reported on last night's Iowa Christian Alliance event. The keynote was GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. But perhaps the most telling speech was given by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.

The scandal-ridden Reed laid out his plan to elect anti-gay officials from governor to the statehouse to school boards.

From the Iowa Independent:

There's a rush for marriage licenses in the nation's capital on the first day same-sex unions are legal.

At least 50 same-sex couples were lined up when city offices opened this morning.

A woman at the front of the line with her partner of 12 years called it "a dream come true." She says, "It's like waking up Christmas morning."

Cheering erupted from the crowd when the first couple signed in at the marriage bureau blocks from the U.S. Capitol.