Wednesday, April 29, 2009

No gay marriages in Carroll County, Iowa -- yet

New forms here, recorder reports no applications

County Recorder Marilyn Dopheide reported that no gay couples had filed for marriage licenses in Carroll as of late this morning during the first hours such unions are legal in Iowa.

Dopheide said people had called the office this morning seeking information on the necessary legal forms for a marriage. Since no information has been filled out at this point, she can't tell if they are gay or heterosexual.

"They're both men and women, and I don't ask," Dopheide said. "They're asking because it's spring."

Dopheide said the Iowa Supreme Court's decision allowing gay marriage became official at her office at 8:10 a.m.

In larger, metropolitan counties, and ones along Iowa's borders, gay couples applied for licenses this morning. There were reports of lines of same-sex couples in Polk County seeking forms.

"The recorders are doing their jobs, Dopheide said.

On April 3, the seven-member Iowa Supreme Courts court ruled unanimously that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, effectively establishing marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Dopheide said her responsibility is to follow the law.

And for now that means changing the paperwork in the office. The new certificates for marriage ask applicants to list themselves as "Party A" and "Party B" - and then, if they so choose, to select a small box on the side of the form identifying themselves as "spouse," "bride" or "groom." The older marriage certificates simply listed "bride" and "groom."

The Carroll County Recorder's Office collects a $35 fee for a marriage license, and that fee remains the same.

Dopheide said she expects some people will not be pleased with change in traditional terms on the marriage certificates

Some have made their distaste with legal gay marriage known.

"I would say it's more frustration than anything," Dopheide said.

Other Iowa county recorders, who are elected, have received threats from gay-marriage opponents who want them to join in protest of the law. Those threats have been of an electoral nature, Dopheide said.

For her part, Dopheide said some people who have called her clearly don't understand the law.

"They don't think the Supreme Court ruling is law," Dopheide said. "I think there's some confusion as to the Supreme Court making law."

Dopheide, who has been county recorder since 1995, said she's never had a gay couple come in and request paperwork for a marriage.

The Daily Times Herald has never had a request for publication of a gay-wedding announcement, although some obituaries list what are clearly homosexual relationships within the surviving families of the deceased.

In 2008 there were 127 marriage licenses issues in Carroll County, down from 139 in 2007 and 150 in 2006.

This story first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald ...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Douglas Burns quoted in London Observer today on Obama's first 100 days



Writing in the London Observer today Paul Harris leads with material from Carroll Daily Times Herald columnist Douglas Burns on President Obama's first 100 days.

Here is The Observer:

Douglas Burns works on a newspaper in the small town of Carroll, Iowa, whose 10,000 souls live near the banks of the Middle Raccoon River amid a wide expanse of quintessential American farmland.

Burns is a columnist on Carroll's Daily Times Herald, a post that would not normally see him command the attention of those who aspire to occupy the White House. Yet Burns has interviewed Barack Obama a staggering six times. "It is remarkable, I suppose," he said. Burns's position of power comes from the unique role Iowa has played in the rise of Obama to the White House.

Throughout 2007, he followed Obama's Iowa's campaign for the Democratic nomination as it criss-crossed the state, stopping in dozens of tiny towns, just like Carroll, gradually building up to Obama's astonishing victory over Hillary Clinton for on 3 January 2008. That night went down as one of the most significant in recent American history. It showed that this farm-dominated, overwhelmingly white, midwestern state could be an unlikely springboard for Obama's journey to the White House.

That victory not only proved that he could beat the Democratic frontrunner - Clinton - but that white voters were more than willing to elect a black man as their commander-in-chief.

To cheering crowds in the state capital Des Moines, Obama delivered one of the most memorable speeches of his generation, which began with the words: "You know, they said this day would never come." When it was over, his supporters partied long into the night.

Since then, Iowa has featured strongly in Obama's team - several key members of his government hail from the state - and Obama has held an equally special place in the state's political folklore. "Obama's political life as president was essentially born here. He really is a president from Iowa," said Burns.


Later Burns is quoted on his assessment of how the 2010 governor's race may play in the 2012 Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa.

In Iowa, that fight is already playing out, as local congressman Steve King prepares to seek his party's nomination for the governor's race in 2010. King is deeply conservative and, if he gets the nod, it will be a signal that Iowa's conservative Republicans - probably boosted by the decision to legalise gay marriage - will be dominant.

That will have a national impact, because it will lay a powerful base for someone like Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, to run for the Republican nomination in 2012, using Iowa as a springboard, just as Obama did.

Not that the prospect worries Democrats. Many welcome the Republican party's drift rightwards as a sign it is losing touch with the centre ground that so often decides US elections. "They will really be defeating themselves for a generation," said Burns.

Porn industry looking for bailout -- joke's on us



We've all heard the punchlines and snickers about the porn industry seeking bailouts. Some real reporting on this from the American Prospect reveals it for it what it is: a cynical PR grab. Larry Flynt is perhaps unrivaled with such endeavors ...

Here is The American Prospect:


We all know that plunging home values and decimated 401(k)s are among the effects of the recession. But what about depleted sex drives? "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Hustler publisher Larry Flynt said in a January statement asking Congress for a $5 billion bailout of the adult industry. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex."

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, who is more likely to need bail than a bailout, told Hollywood gossip site TMZ that unlike spoiled, private-jet-riding auto executives, he would drive to Congress "in a white Prius" to ask for financial support for the porn industry. He could barely conceal his smirk.

But in a time of economic crisis, lawmakers are more likely to give the porn industry grief than gratitude. Legislators in California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Washington state recently proposed stemming budget losses through various skin tariffs, ranging from a Magnum-sized 25 percent sales tax on X-rated movies to a $5 "pole tax" on visits to strip clubs.

Friday, April 24, 2009

King GOP bid less likely, Roberts gets Eastern Iowa mention

Writing in The Cedar Rapids Gazette James Lynch reports on U.S. Rep. Steve King's comments today that he's not revved up to run for governor.

Lynch also gives Carroll's own Rod Roberts a mention as possible candidate for governor.

Here is The Gazette:


The Kiron conservative said on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press that a gubernatorial campaign is not uppermost in his mind. The program will air Friday night and Sunday forenoon.

“I don’t go to bed at night thinking about it nor getting up in the morning thinking about it,” the fourth-term congressman said.

King’s name is one of a handful mentioned as GOP nominee for governor. Others include Reps. Rod. Roberts of Carroll and Christopher Rants of Sioux City, state Auditor David Vaudt and Ag Secretary Bill Northey, but Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City is the only one with an active campaign at this time.

IMPACT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ECONOMIC POLICIES ON IOWA

This from The White House today:

Working Families:


Making Work Pay: The President’s tax-cut – which covers more Americans than any in history – is putting more than $600 million back in the pockets of more than 1.1 million hard-working Iowa families.

$18,120,842 to support child care for working families.

Energy:

$21,103,000 in block grants to foster energy efficiency in building, transportation, and a wide range of other improvements.

$80,834,411 to support the weatherization of homes, including adding more insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment.

$40,546,000 to the State Energy Program, available for rebates to consumers for energy saving improvements; development of renewable energy projects; promotion of Energy Star products; efficiency upgrades for state and local government buildings; and other innovative state efforts to help save families money on their energy bills.

Education:


$682,859,389 potentially available to Iowa to lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save thousands of teaching jobs at risk due to state and local budget cuts.

Health Care:


$1,300,000 to fund a new Community Health Center, which will serve an estimated 7,950 patients and create a projected 60 jobs.

$3,175,923 to expand services at 13 existing Community Health Centers, which will expand service to an additional 17,988 patients and create or save a projected 84 jobs.

$1,033,962 to provide meals to low-income seniors.

$89,098,176 made available in Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to protect health care for the families hit hard by the economic crisis and some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

$2,173,252 in vaccines and grants to ensure more underserved Americans receive the vaccines they need.

Transportation:


$357,722,231 in highway funds to help build and repair roads and bridges.

$36,483,617 to repair and build public transportation infrastructure.

$84,000 to address airport safety and security, infrastructure, runway safety, increased capacity, and mitigation of environmental impacts.

Law Enforcement:


More than $18.7 million for state and local law enforcement assistance available through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. The JAG Program supports a variety of efforts such as hiring and support for law enforcement officers; multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces; crime prevention and domestic violence programs; and courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives.


REAL RESULTS IN IOWA


Thanks to the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, real impact is already being felt across the state.

Stimulus Package Will Allow The State Of Iowa To Offer Health Insurance To All Children In Families Earning Up To Three Times The Federal Poverty Level. KAALTV reported, “Iowa is now one step closer to offering health care to all children thanks to President Obama's stimulus plan. The federal funds will allow state officials to expand the hawk-i program. Beginning July 1st, the state will offer health insurance to all children in families earning up to three times the federal poverty level. That's just over $66,000 for a family of four.” [KAALTV.com, 3/2/09]

Iowa-Based Website That Posts Jobs For Contractors Has Heard From 60 Contractors Looking To Hire (WITH VIDEO). “With hundreds of millions in the pipeline from Washington, Brian May, who posts jobs for contractors across Iowa on his Industry People Group, a career Web site for the construction industry, says contractors are hiring. ‘One company is looking for 30 to 40 workers this year,’ May said. ‘Anyone from flaggers, crane operators, truck drivers, foremen.’ In the five weeks that May has posted jobs, they've heard from 60 contractors who are looking to hire.” [ABC News, 3/4/09]

A Windmill Plant, Which May Be Using Stimulus Funding, Plans to Open in Iowa City, Hire 130 Local Workers, Could Draw More Green Businesses. “Iowa City officials are negotiating with a company seeking to open a manufacturing plant at the 420th Street industrial site on the city's east side that would bring 130 jobs. The company would purchase 18 acres of the 173-acre site. Local officials would not release the name of the company… The plant would manufacture windmill bases, according to Iowa City Planning and Community Development Director Jeff Davidson. It would bring 130 full-time jobs with ‘above-average wages and benefits,’ Davidson said. The company is choosing between Iowa City and Davenport for the location of the new plant... The city is willing to negotiate incentives with the company, including tax incentives, according to Davidson… Proximity to Clipper Windpower in Cedar Rapids and Acciona Windpower in West Branch also makes Iowa City a favorable location, according to Davidson. Lombardo said that the plant likely would attract more interest in the site. ‘If we're successful, we think others will come in,’ he said. Lombardo said that if a deal is reached the plant could be online next year. Asked if he was surprised that a business was considering expanding during an economic downturn, Davidson speculated that the company might be using federal stimulus package money. The package includes funds to support clean energy.” [Iowa City Press-Citizen, 3/3/09]

Nearly $30 Million In Stimulus Money Will Make Long-Discussed BNSF Bridge Repairs A Reality. “Enough stimulus money has been earmarked to upgrade the BNSF bridge in Burlington to make the project a reality. Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Dave Loebsack, both Democrats, announced Friday that $28.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to convert the bridge's pivot span to a lift span. The long-discussed project has been targeted since the U.S. Coast Guard found that the it ranked third among bridges most often struck by barges. Between 1992 and 2001, the bridge was struck 92 times. So far, $55.5 million has been secured for the bridge project, whose estimated cost has increased to more than $56 million. The design has been completed for some time and once BNSF moves forward with its share of the funds, the bridge could be completed within two years, providing a substantial number of construction jobs…‘This is a win-win for our state: job creation for working families and a boost to our local economy from needed infrastructure improvements.’ Loebsack also praised the appropriation. ‘This $28 million in Recovery Act Funds builds on my ongoing fight to ensure that Burlington remains a hub for freight rail and a major transportation artery for years to come,’ he said in a statement.” [Burlington Hawk Eye, 4/18/09]

A Stimulus-Funded Project to Replace the Runway at the Iowa City Airport Will Create 50 to 60 Jobs. “A project to rebuild Iowa City Municipal Airport’s runway is finally taking off. Iowa City’s airport will receive $2.5 million in federal stimulus funds to reconstruct its more than 50-year-old runway, Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, announced on March 20… Federal funding will replace the runway — which has cracks, weather-related scaling of pavement, and fragmentation of its surface — with a brand new platform, said Tharp, who is also a licensed pilot. While the state of the runway isn’t extremely hazardous, the ancient strip has reached the end of its life cycle and is threatening to damage aircraft, he said. ‘Projects in general have various degrees of priorities,’ he said. ‘The ones that affect safety and use are among the top. And that’s what our runway system is.’ … Tharp said the airport makes room for several helicopter operations on any given day, including organ donors and critical patient transfers to the UI Hospitals and Clinics. In total, the air station has roughly 30,000 takeoffs and landings annually. Tharp said funding for the reconstruction will create 50 to 60 jobs…” [Daily Iowan, 3/26/09]

Iowa’s Title I Schools To Receive Over $50 Million for Hiring Teachers, Providing Tutoring and Additional Academic Support. “A $126,426 federal stimulus grant to Carroll Community School District for low-achieving students was among more than $50 million in Title 1 grants for Iowa schools announced by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin on Wednesday. Most Iowa school districts will receive such funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Harkin said the grants are for elementary and secondary schools with high percentages of children from low-income families. Schools will use the money - half of which is expected to arrive by the end of March, the other half in October - to provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help low-achieving children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects. ‘In particular, Iowa school districts may use the funding to hire teachers and teacher assistants, provide tutoring, create school computer labs, fund parent involvement activities, purchase instructional materials, host professional development for teachers and create pre-kindergarten classes,’ Harkin said in a press release.” [Carroll Daily Times-Herald, 3/20/09]

Des Moines Transit Authority Will Use $7.88 Million in Stimulus Funds to Buy Buses, Upgrading Technology and Facilities Improvement, Creating Up to 750 Jobs. “Improvements to Des Moines' bus system will become a reality as early as this fall thanks to federal stimulus money. The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority plans to use $7.88 million in economic stimulus money to pay for six projects, including buying new buses, installing vehicle locator technology, completing a final design for the downtown transit hub project, improving rider communication and repairing the DART headquarters. The money is part of about $36.5 million released to Iowa from the Federal Transit Administration at the beginning of March. The DART projects are expected to generate up to 750 jobs, said DART General Manager Brad Miller… ‘We are very excited to use the stimulus funds to create ... jobs by advancing and modernizing our transit system,’ said DART Commission Chairwoman Angela Connolly, who also is chairwoman of the Polk County Board of Supervisors.” [Des Moines Register, 3/30/09]

Iowa Launched a Website for Disadvantaged Iowa Youth Seeking Jobs Through Recovery Act This Summer. “Iowa Workforce Development said Monday it launched a Web site, the www.YouthforIowa.org, for disadvantaged young Iowans seeking jobs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government's economic stimulus initiative. The statewide summer employment program gives young Iowans an opportunity to develop skills needed for successful employment. The program is for Iowans ages 14 to 24 who are considered low-income and meet one of these criteria: Deficient in basic literacy skills; a high school drop-out; homeless, runaway or foster child; pregnant or parenting; an ex-offender; or anyone needing additional assistance to complete an educational program or to secure and hold employment.” [Des Moines Register, 4/21/09]

Iowa Awarded $48.9 Million Worth of Stimulus Contracts for Repaving in 8 Counties. “The Iowa Department of Transportation has awarded an additional $48.9 million in road construction contracts using federal stimulus money , Gov. Chet Culver said today. The work will pay for repaving of roads in eight Iowa counties, including Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clarke, Decatur, Monona, Osceola, Page and Wapello. The projects are being financed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress. Iowa is expected to receive a total of $358 million for state and local road and bridge projects under the legislation.” [Des Moines Register, 3/20/09]

Webster, Iowa Will Use $600,000 to Replace an Aging Bridge, Contract Will Be Let in April. “It didn't take Hamilton County Engineer Danny Waide long to find a "shovel ready" project suitable for the recently-approved federal stimulus package. Sitting in the Hamilton County Secondary Roads five-year plan for about 10 years now has been replacement of the Rocky ford bridge, north of Webster City on the old Cashway blacktop. The design to replace the aging and narrow bridge on R-27 is already done, according to Waide. But with a $1.1 million estimated price tag, budget constraints had previously forced county supervisors to keep pushing it back on the Secondary Roads schedule. Now, with $600,000 in federal stimulus money on the way, bid letting is slated for April. With cooperative weather, the new bridge should be open for traffic by Nov. 1.” [Daily Freeman-Journal, 3/11/09]

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why Ashton Kutcher should run for Congress in Western Iowa



By DOUGLAS BURNS

Celebrity activist and new media pioneer Ashton Kutcher just beat CNN in a race for 1 million followers on the Internet social networking site Twitter.

A suggested next challenge for the Iowa native: move back to your home state - the western side, say Council Bluffs - and run for the 5th Congressional District seat.

As much as anyone in America Kutcher has brilliantly blended fame with substance to create an interactive organization that he's trained on fighting malaria and child sex trafficking.

An obvious new platform for the earnest Kutcher would be a run for political office. And the place to do it would be in heavily conservative western Iowa where U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, appears to have a Gordian knot on elections, anchored as he is with an eye-poppingly reliable GOP vote in many northwest counties.

Kutcher could raise truckloads of money - just a $5 donation from only half of the now 1.2 million people following him on Twitter - would yield $3 million. This doesn't take into account his own considerable assets - and those of wife Demi Moore, an American icon who was worth millions while Kutcher was still waiting to be discovered at the Airliner bar in Iowa City.

There's plenty of reason to think Kutcher would run as a Democrat. He campaigned visibly (check out YouTube) for President Barack Obama last year and John Kerry in 2004 - although the Cedar Rapids native voted for George W. Bush in 2000.

"I would say that I'm a fiscally conservative individual, in general, and probably very socially liberal, but there really isn't a party that exists for that," Kutcher said last November on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." "So I'm a little bit in between. I wasn't that far away from looking at John McCain as a viable candidate for myself, because I sit somewhere in the middle. But, as soon as a Sarah Palin comes onto a ticket, it turns me away so feverishly."

Kutcher is largely known for zany roles in "That '70s Show," "Dude, Where's My Car?" and MTV's "Punk'd."



For much of his career, Kutcher, 31, offered no evidence, at least publicly, to suggest that he was anything other than the "dumb handsome guy," a description he laments in Details magazine.

But behind those Hollywood looks are some Iowa smarts.

Kutcher studied biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa before entering modeling and moving on to smashing success on TV and in film. In 2002, he founded Katalyst, a production company that has shepherded more than 10 feature films and television series to completion.

Until just recently I'd never considered Kutcher beyond the caricature he helped erect. But just after the election, he appeared on Maher's politically hot-blooded "Real Time," where even the most quick-witted of the professional chattering class are pushed to the limits.

Kutcher's clearly well-read and passionate about issues and got off one of the more memorable lines of the program about the flagging American auto industry, a suggestion more rhetorical than practical, but containing within powerful truth.

"You know who should bail them (auto companies) out, is the oil companies," Kutcher said. "The reason for their companies' decline is their allegiance to the oil companies."

For his part, Steve King, has made more rumblings, some of it right in Carroll a few weeks ago, about a possible bid for governor.

If he does that, the open congressional seat creates opportunities for many in both parties.

But should King remain in Congress a high-profile candidacy from Kutcher would have impact on the 2010 political season beyond Iowa as the star could in effect nationalize King, something the congressman has done to some extent with his uncommon artistry for soundbites.

Kutcher could go a long ways toward making extreme right-wing King more of the face of the Republican Party - which would help Democrats in Iowa and perhaps even tilt the balance in the GOP presidential nominating process here in 2012 more toward the Sarah Palin-minded and away from candidates with stronger economic portfolios and intellectual ballast.

Right off the bat it important to note that the numbers in the 5th District don't appear to add up for any Democrat, even a resurrected John F. Kennedy.

That said, the power of celebrity should never be underestimated. And remember, Iowans in the western part of the state have fond memories of another television funny man-turned-pol representing them - Fred Grandy, who went from playing Yeoman-Purser Gopher Smith on "The Love Boat" to Congress and a near primary upset of Gov. Terry Branstad.

There are, of course, countless arguments against Kutcher running here.

He could be attacked from left, right and center as a Hollywood carpetbagger with exotic ways.

And in many respects a run for Congress - and status as a freshman legislator should he pull it off - would be awfully limiting for someone of Kutcher's wide-ranging talents.

What's more, some would suggest that as an eastern Iowan Kutcher would be better off going for Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley's seat. But as a state of 3 million people Iowa is certifiable if it doesn't keep re-electing the senior senators, Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democrat who chairs the Agriculture Committee.

Politically, Kutcher has the better angle here in western Iowa.

In the 2008 election, the Democratic candidate for the 5th District, Rob Hubler, was never able to take full advantage of King's continuing long line of provocative statements. (King called disgraced red-baiter Joseph McCarthy a "great American hero" and contended that Iraq is safer than Washington, D.C., and compared the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison to fraternity hazing.)

In short, this material, would be golden in the hands of someone with Kutcher's exceptional skills at, well, punking.

In the end, the best argument for Kutcher is what happened last week when he reached the watershed of a million followers on Twitter, a texting/blogging convergence tool that allows users to send information out in 140-character or less blasts to anyone interested in reading them.

In effect, Kutcher just built a muscular grassroots political machine that would be the envy of many a campaign pro.

He should now test it.

There's no better place to do that than in western Iowa's 5th District, where Kutcher would give King's loyal followers a royal headache at the very least, and maybe even provide the opposition a fighting chance.

This column first appeared in the Carroll (Iowa) Daily Times Herald.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Gay marriage ruling inspires native Iowan

By The REV. JAN CARLSSON-BULL

Editor's Note: This column was written by the Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull, minister, First Parish Unitarian Universalist, Cohasset, Mass. The former Jan White graduated from Carroll High School in 1960.

I am so proud of my home state. Just moments ago I read online of the decision of Iowa's Supreme Court that the Iowa "Defense of Marriage Act" violates Iowa's Constitution. Welcome to the growing number of states that celebrate inclusive marriage.
Growing up in the heartland community of Carroll, amid the "amber waves of grain," I was clueless about straight, gay, lesbian, and all the other adjectives we visit upon ourselves to describe our sexual affinities. It took a long time for me to understand and appreciate that there are many ways of loving. My toughest lesson was a 10-year ordeal as the wife of a man who was gay.

He simply couldn't come to terms with it. His vacillation morphed into an anger that turned against me. With my then two young children, I fled. That was just over 30 years ago.

I have since remarried, am now the mother of three adult daughters, and the grandmother of a completely adorable 1-year-old little boy. I'm also a Unitarian Universalist minister in the coastal town of Cohasset, Mass. It's a profession I love and a faith I hold dear. I preside at weddings of bride and groom, groom and groom, bride and bride.

For any of you who are not cheering this recent court ruling, I ask you: If a straight woman is married to a gay man and they produce two beautiful children, but the frustration in that man who is fighting his identity escalates into lashing out at his spouse, is this a marriage that nonetheless conforms to the legal norms of 47 of our states? If inclusive marriage had been on the books of New York, where we then resided, if our society had affirmed the wondrous variation of sexual affinity, might there not have been an early and congenial parting of the ways with the knowledge that he had his options and I had mine? I'm ever grateful for the reality that brought two little girls into the world, but not for the societal and legal context that contributed mightily to the toxicity of this quite legal marriage.

When I bless a marriage between a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, I bless a relationship defined above all by mutual love and respect - whoever, however. The lifestyle of many of our happily married (and sometimes unhappily married) gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender sisters and brothers is so much like that of our straight sisters and brothers that we could trade one for the other and not know the difference.

As a straight woman now married to a straight man, I think to myself, this isn't always easy. I love him, but if men are from Mars and women are from Venus, we don't even start out on the same planet. There's an argument to be made for options.

When I preside at weddings, I commonly say a prayer I wrote several years ago. It applies equally to bride and bride, groom and groom, or bride and groom:

As this is their day of love, so may it be their life of love. As this is their day of promises, so may it be their life of promises fulfilled.

As this is their day of hope, so may it be their life of hope realized.

We stand on the threshold of shared lives,knowing that not every day will feel like a wedding day.

We gather as family and friends, knowing that not every day will be a celebration of family or friends.

We affirm this day of love and promises and hope, trusting that the resilience granted by mutual affection and respect will be theirs, so that the lives they share and the family they form, will unfold and endure with grace and graciousness.

lt is this that we celebrate, this love that is deep and layered and true. lt is this love that will endure.

Amen.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves is that haunting commandment that calls us to love beyond category. I don't believe there were any "yeah, buts .." in that invitation. I don't believe it applies to all relationships except marriage. One of my most euphoric moments was joining a few years ago with 100 or so other clergy from across faiths in a procession across the Boston Common. In our clerical robes, we made our way across the Common to the Massachusetts Statehouse to advocate for civil marriage as a civil right.

I and so many of my clergy colleagues celebrated when that right was won; just as my now 100-year-old mother celebrated when, as a young girl growing up on an Iowa farm, she discovered that, as a young woman, she would go to the polls along with men to cast her vote; just as so many of us in this nation celebrated when the hard fight to attain voting rights across color lines was affirmed with the passage of the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Civil marriage is a civil right. Inclusive marriage is simply right.

I am so proud of Massachusetts and Connecticut and what will hopefully soon come to pass in Vermont. But today, I am prouder than proud of my home state, Iowa.

Reducing masquerades and fighting fair on gay marriage

Because much of society holds gays in contempt, they often try to pass off as heterosexual, engaging in a charade.

Many homosexuals go to the proms with opposite-sex dates. They get married and they have children. For a while, they may even believe they are straight.

But their true colors are eventually and painfully revealed, and the women they married and the chi1dren they bore are left to deal with the fallout of having been props in the heterosexual playacting of the "family man."

These families are the real victims in this cultural war against gays. As a result of the Iowa Supreme Court decision last Friday allowing gay marriages we can hope fewer Iowans suffer in these masquerade-ball families.

Many, of course, still will.

The court's ruling doesn't scrub our society of bigotry toward homosexuals.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, once compared gays with unicorns and leprechauns, suggesting that they are just liberal imaginings. He spoke in Carroll Wednesday but released much of his vitriol toward gays earlier in the week when he claimed in eastern Iowa that legalized gay marriages in Iowa would lead to incest.

"We have no residency requirement in Iowa law, which means that people can come from all over this country - a man and a man, a woman and a woman - it could be, I suppose, a father and a son or a mother and a daughter," King said Monday night in Cedar Rapids. "They can come to this state and get married and then go back to the state where they reside."

King should read the law before he comments on it.

In Iowa, incest is a Class D felony.

What's more, a state memorandum sent to county recorders makes it clear the associated charge that the court ruling will be a door opener for polygamy is just flat out false.

Iowa Code chapter 595 clearly defines marriage as a civil contract between two parties, and nothing in the court's decision alters that definition.

Many liberals, President Barack Obama most notably, agree with King's premise that marriage should be between one man and one woman. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, once told me that "all other things being equal" heterosexual couples should have preference over gays seeking adoptions.

It's fair to fight this way, to make the case that kids and families are stronger with a married man and woman at the helm. But it is cruelly inaccurate to raise the specter of incest and bestiality in connection with the gay marriage debate as it demonizes people.

At the end of the day gay marriage is a cultural firestorm because Americans are forever obsessed with other people's sex lives.

Each day we are flooded with news of celebrities' sexual doings, and you can't get from the first tee at the golf course to the fairway without hearing rumors of some sap's infidelity or bedroom conquests. It's as reviling as it is irrelevant, and this prurience is probably the most pathetic thing about the American state of mind.

The worst-reviewed movie in my lifetime, "Gigli," starring those one-time star-crossed lovers Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (who gave us the first celeb-fusion name, Bennifer), still pulled in millions at the box office because people thought they might get to see some nocturnal gymnastics with the atrocious acting.

There's another angle to consider.

A marriage license - for gays or straights - is in the eyes of the state largely an economic pact tying people's fortunes together. In that sense, a homosexual union is essentially a free-market choice about who has access to one's money.

Moral judgments on homosexuality are better left to the churches, which don't have to perform gay marriages or even accept homosexual members.

Some churches denounce homosexuality as sinful.

Southern Baptists have been very vocal in their opposition to gay marriage.

Meanwhile, the Episcopalian Church confirmed an openly homosexual bishop.

Fortunately, you can attend either church.

And since opinions about homosexuality and marriage are at their core religious beliefs or lack thereof you should be able to marry someone of either sex.

This column first appeared in The Carroll Daily Times Herald.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Gay Marriage Debate: In Western Iowa city politics and protocol at issue

CARROLL, Iowa — As politicians and social activists despaired or rejoiced an Iowa Supreme Court decision this morning legalizing gay marriage within weeks, the owner of Bridal Country Ltd. In Carroll had a more practical concern.

How does she handle dressing-room arrangements and deal with what may be some changes in clientele?

"We're thinking it may be totally different for us now," said Jackie Pudenz "We have had men come in and try on gowns. I've pretty much seen a lot of things. Now that it's actually law, it takes on whole different aspect."

Pudenz, who has been in the wedding attire business for three decades, said she was talking about the Supreme Court decision's potential impact with an employee this morning.

"The dressing room situation will be more interesting - seriously," Pudenz said.

Pudenz said she hasn't had a run of gay couples appear at her Carroll store, but just last week, she said, a male wanted to try on a dress.

While it is a private business, and Pudenz does hold her own political views on the issue, she's come to the conclusion that "I have to be open as a business. I can't allow my opinions into my business."

At the Carroll County Recorder's Office, which collects a $35 fee for a marriage license, there haven't been any early requests from same-sex couples this morning.

"I've been just listening to the broadcast finding out what we can and can't do," said County Recorder Marilyn Dopheide.

Dopheide, who has been county recorder since 1995, said she's never had a gay couple come in and request paperwork for a marriage.

"I have not really had the phone calls of that nature," Dopheide said.

The Daily Times Herald has never had a request for publication of a gay-wedding announcement, although some obituaries list what are clearly homosexual relationships within the surviving families of the deceased.

Like Pudenz, Dopheide has a practical immediate concern. As it stands the marriage application forms list categories for "bride" and "groom." She is wondering how that terminology may be changed with same-sex couples who may not want to break down their relationship in those traditional gender-based terms.

"That particular topic was discussed," Dopheide said. "How do we determine the particular terminology on the form?"

Dopheide has been talking with the Iowa Department of Public Health, which manages marriage licenses, and other county officials about changes that may take place as a result of the cultural sea change today.

An elected official, Dopheide, a Democrat, said her position on gay marriage is necessarily this: "My opinion is what the Supreme Court says I am required to do."

State Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, was on the phone this morning with GOP leaders planning a response to the politically explosive news.

Kettering said Republicans and their Democratic allies on this issue will seek to change the Iowa Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

"Monday morning I would expect we will go down and proceed that way," Kettering said.

That process requires a simple majority vote of both chambers in two consecutive Iowa Legislatures followed by a public referendum.

State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, said this morning that those legal requirements may stretch out an attempt at enshrining opposite-sex marriage in Iowa until 2012, when it could be a major issue in the outcome of state races and even the presidency because of its mobilization of the GOP base in Iowa.

"There it is," Kettering said. "Without question it will mobilize the Republican base, energize the Republican base."

Roberts, a social conservative who is a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2010, expressed strong displeasure with the court's unanimous ruling today.

"I'm disappointed and I'm upset with their ruling, but I'm not surprised by it," Roberts said. "Having said that, it doesn't make it any easier to accept."

Roberts said the foundation of the nation is the family unit, which he believes best involves heterosexual married couples.

"I believe marriage is a unique relationship, a covenant, between one man and one woman," Roberts said.

Roberts says he doesn't have the answers about why people are gay, but he said: "I don't know if I agree with the statement that they are born gay."

In terms of his constituents in west-central Iowa, Roberts said 95 percent of those who have contacted him on gay marriage are opposed to it - including many Democrats and Independents.

Both Kettering and Roberts said the court's ruling comes at a time when state leaders are focused on the economy - which Roberts said is still the No. 1 political issue.

"There isn't any question that it will divert attention, no question about it," Kettering said.

This story is crossposted at the Carroll Daily Times Herald Web site.