Marriage Equality in Vermont and Iowa

Today is a glorious day! On the heels of Iowa making same-sex marriage legal, the Vermont legislature voted to override a veto by Governor Douglas and passed their same-sex marriage bill. How cool is that. As a New Yorker though I am a bit ashamed. I always thought that NY was a bit ahead of the curve for gay rights. I mean we had Stonewall, right. Now, we sit behind Iowa, WTF. Well, I don't want to bitch on this glorious day. I just want to revel in the news. Oh, and hot off the presses, DC Council voted today to recognize same sex marriages from other states. Woo, hoo.

Here is an interesting take on the amendment process from the Iowa Senate Majority Leader, Michael Gronstal.

Iowa’s Senate Majority Leader has said he will not consider any proposals to begin the process to amend Iowa's constitution to overturn the same-sex marriage decision. "The politics of it are I'm not going to put discrimination in the Iowa Constitution," he said. "That's a horrible idea. The people who are pushing the amendment are saying equal protection under the law -- except. I think that's unacceptable."

Now, why can't California see this. You can't have equal protection under the law with an exception. How is that equal. That makes no sense. Here's hoping that California does the right thing and repels Prop 8 and uphold all 18,000 same-sex marriages. And, oh, as an aside, can we maybe stop calling them same-sex marriages. A marriage is a marriage, right? Isn't that what we are fighting for......hmmmmmm. And here is a picture of a happy marriage: