You Really Ought to Give Iowa a Try

By Baxter

Perhaps Iowans will be "cold as a falling thermometer in December" no more. The state's Supreme Court just declared Iowa's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Surely we'll soon be hit with a bunch of "American Gothic" parodies — with two men, or two women, with that farmhouse and pitchfork.

But, seriously. That makes three states out of 50 in which Americans enjoy marriage equality. That's because Vermont's Republican governor has indicated he'll veto any same-sex marriage bill that hits his desk, and of course, the Mormon Church last fall bankrolled a repeal of gay marriage in California. (Why that church continues to enjoy tax-exempt status is beyond us cats.)

This slow-as-molasses movement of the United States toward what we see as just plain common sense continues to be frustrating. Why, whole countries (Canada, for instance) have quietly legalized gay marriage without fanfare or fuss.

We just have to keep plugging along — and reminding ourselves of the words of Martin Luther King: "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."