Condensing a December 7 story by Des Moines Register's Grant Schulte on a lawsuit in Iowa that may create same-sex marriage in the Hawkeye State, USA Today's left out the meat of conservative critiques of the lawsuit, citing three supporters of the lawsuit to one conservative critic.
The lone conservative was given just four words in print in the December 7 article "Iowa high court to hear gay-marriage case":
"We're hopeful and optimistic" that the court will uphold the ban, says Bryan English, a spokesman for the conservative Iowa Family Policy Center.
But here's what Schulte quoted from English in his December 7 story "Gay marriage goes before Iowa high court this week":
Story Continues Below Ad ↓"We're hopeful and optimistic" that the court will uphold the ban, said Brian English, a spokesman for the conservative Iowa Family Policy Center. "Iowa's law is very simple. We have 150 years of history in the state for the court to side with. The state's Defense of Marriage Act was designed to mirror the federal law, and that law has survived judicial review."
In addition to English, Schulte's Register story had an additional conservative critic, Doug Napier of the Alliance Defense Fund, as well as a quote from a legal brief by a Polk County official defending the state's definition of marriage.:
Assistant Polk County Attorney Michael O'Meara, one of two attorneys who will argue for the county, said ethics rules prevented him from discussing the matter.
But in a legal brief, co-counsel and assistant Polk County attorney Roger Kuhle wrote that Hanson's ruling had "redefined marriage in Iowa."
The marriage law "is consistent with the history and tradition of the state of Iowa and the nation and cannot be heard to shock the conscience or offend traditional notions of fairness or be offensive to human dignity," Kuhle wrote. Upholding the ban "will not destroy liberty and justice."
Doug Napier, senior legal counsel for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, said he and several other attorneys planned to attend the hearing to field media questions about the case.
"The attempt to use the courts to do the bidding of a small activist group is, I think, offensive to Iowans," he said.
Schulte's USA Today story, by contrast, pitted English's four words versus three proponents of same-sex marriage, including one of the "legal experts" noted in the lead paragraph that insist it will be difficult for Iowa voters to overturn a court ruling like California voters did with Proposition 8:
"This is the heartland of America — a place where family values are revered," says [University of Iowa law professor Angela] Onwuachi-Willig, who signed a court brief supporting gay-marriage rights. "It would be an incredibly strong signal for the Iowa Supreme Court to find that same-sex marriages are legal."
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters




















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"This is the heartland of
December 8, 2008 - 18:27 ET by MidAmerica"This is the heartland of America — a place where family values are revered," says [University of Iowa law professor Angela] Onwuachi-Willig, who signed a court brief supporting gay-marriage rights. "It would be an incredibly strong signal for the Iowa Supreme Court to find that same-sex marriages are legal."
Yeah, that's the way the Founding Fathers intended it. If you can't get what you want through democracy then you can always go find some judges to impose it. In fact, almost all of the gains of liberalism has not come from the will of the people but from an aristocracy in Black Robes. The only reason we fear liberals at all is because this supposed co-equal branch of government has been allowed to assert itself as the supreme branch of government.
I wonder where all the rabble-rousers
December 8, 2008 - 19:07 ET by Cape Conservativeare to demand this professor resign his position for supporting this measure...oh, I forgot, only people who support traditional marriage are supposed to be forced to resign...my mistake!
A PROUD member of the Oogedy Boogedy branch of the GOP!
NO Rights for Aberrant Behavior
December 8, 2008 - 18:43 ET by Retired GeekThe modern Liberal conscience is capable of judgment - it has judged that Homosexuality is normal and natural and those who oppose 'Homosexual Marriage' are abnormal and unnatural.
Liberals have judged that 'Deviant Behavior' should have 'Rights' and that anyone exercising their right to vote against 'Behavioral Rights' should be castigated and stripped of their right to vote.
Homosexuality is nothing more than the pursuit of 'Lust' instead of love.
Homosexuals want 'Lust Rights' for their aberrant behavior.
Homosexual defenders and participants of sexual aberration are using 'Moral Equivalency' to justify their perverse desires and lust by saying: 'Those who oppose us aren't perfect, so they do not have the right to oppose our aberrant behavior'.
Homosexuals then say: 'It is natural to be unnatural', 'Normal to be Abnormal', those who oppose us have lost their moral compass.
Homosexuals are intolerant of anyone who disagrees with their lustful behavior and attack them personally and viciously, all in the name of 'Tolerance' and 'Diversity'.
'Looking for Love in all the wrong places.'
Homosexual Marriage = False Self Esteem
December 8, 2008 - 18:44 ET by Retired GeekWe live in a society in 2008 that has an educational system that is more interested in 'Self-Esteem' than survival.
Our educational system is NO longer focused on the survivability of the student in a world of Information and High Tech, but rather how the student 'Feels' about themselves.
Homosexuals want the educational system to change the curricula to teach they are 'Normal' so they can have 'Self Esteem'.
Homosexuals want to feel 'Good' about their deviant lifestyle and think ANY criticism is intolerance.
Homosexuals have 'Pride' parades and wear badges about 'Gay Pride' and yet seemingly hate their lifestyle or they wouldn't constantly try to show the world 'How Proud They Are'.
Homosexuals are intolerant of anyone who disagrees and attack them personally and viciously, all in the name of 'Tolerance' and 'Diversity'.
Homosexuals declare all they want are the same rights of every other American Citizen - yet Homosexuals have the same rights as any other American Citizen.
Homosexuals have the right to marry someone of the opposite sex just like every other American Citizen. Homosexuals have the right to have sex with another consenting adult just like any other American Citizen.
There is a 'Cure' for hunger 'Eat', there is a 'Cure' for sleepiness go to 'Sleep', there is a 'Cure' for loneliness 'Make Friends' etc.
There is a 'Cure' for sexual deviancy, choose non-deviant sex.
Homosexuals who want to feel 'Normal' and have self-esteem, change your lifestyle or accept yourself and leave the rest of us out of the equation.
Homosexuals 'Life is a Hill' get over it.
Ah, normal.
December 11, 2008 - 13:34 ET by ChesterBogusFor you, "normal" is such a simple thing - you, yourself, are "normal." You can't imagine that anyone else would ever do or act in a different way. You would probably respond by saying that, in fact, you do understand differences of opinion. You do have a knowledge of it, you know differences of opinion exist, but it's unlikely that you truly and fully understand that, yes, people do live different lives from you.
You talk about homosexuals choosing "non-deviant" sex, but what does that even mean? What is non-deviant sex? And how do you choose? Be honest and tell me if you choose what arouses you. Are there not nights when your partner comes into the room dressed to the nines in her best lingere just for you, but you are not in the mood - you are tired, aching, all sexed out, or just plain getting old? You want so much to want her and please her and make her happy, but, hey, just isn't the right time. You have something else on your mind. It isn't happening - or it will happen, but your heart just isn't in it.
If not that, then think of a time when you were aroused at the wrong time - perhaps during a class, or church, or at work. Suddenly, your wife, coworker or whomever has just tripped your trigger, and what do you do? Can you simply tell your body to stop! Calm down! Send blood to the toes, the toes damn you, the toes!
All men know that, in fact, you can't. The awkward boner is a universal experience.
So how do you expect a homosexual to just, poof! Be turned on by someone of the opposite sex? Your own experience should tell you that it isn't that simple. A gay man can't simply tell his body to send blood to his fingers or toes, to his brain, to his lungs when he is turned on. He can't look at a woman and just say, blood! Penis! Now! Let's do this!
And, so, I mean, that's the thing about it - the debate as to whether homosexuality is biological or a choice is immaterial. Any thinking, rational human being can reflect on his own experience and understand that sexual arousal is not entirely in one's control. There are, of course, the cliches of "thinking about baseball" or taking a cold shower, but even so - removing the arousal does not change the fact that arousal ocurred. It does not change the fact that you were aroused by a particular thing.
What you can't understand is that asking a homosexual to have "non-deviant" sex is no more unreasonable than if one asked you to engage in "deviant" sex. It simply does not turn you on, and you simply cannot participate in it. If you took just one moment, just a second, to think,
reflect, and try to understand something that you are clearly
completely ignorant of, you might see that your own experiences
parallel the homosexual experience; you might see that your own
experience renders your own opinions and suggestions invalid. The times that you have not been in control of you own normal, "non-deviant" arousal ought to show you quite clearly that a homosexual has no more control over it than you do.
The true irony of it is this: you talk about homosexuals shoving their lifestyles in our faces. You say they are trying to make us accept something that is unpleasant or unacceptable to us. They are forcing us to be something we aren't!
Yet in the same breath you sit there and sanctimoniously suggest that those same people ought to hunker down and be something that THEY aren't. Does the word hypocrite mean anything at all to you? It is wrong for them to shove their lifestyle in our faces, yet they can just shut up and live the way we do?
Do you not hear yourself?
Finally, an ad hominem. Since you won't read and understand what I've written, I may as well have fun with this. I think I'll quote one of my students.
"You are stinky every day. I know this. :P"
Ah, the joys of teaching.
I won't be surprised
December 9, 2008 - 00:42 ET by Iowa BoyWhile the Iowa Supreme Court isn't the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, it's not known for an "originalist" reading of the Iowa Constitution. I won't be shocked if they were to rule that a ban on same-sex marraige was unconstitutional.
With regard to coverage of the case, I also don't expect fairness from the MSM in presenting the conservative side of things. The Des Moines Register isn't really all that different from any other liberal paper in America (except that it does cover high school and college wrestling very well).
I did find this quote in the Fox News website this morning very interesting...
"Aderson Francois, a law
professor who heads Washington-based Howard University's Civil Rights
Clinic, said that while a majority of Americans may oppose gay
marriage, it should be left to the courts to decide issues of
constitutional equality.
"It doesn't really
matter whether a majority of people want to deny that right; the
constitution simply doesn't provide for that," he said."
Like I've always believed. Democrats aren't very interested in democracy. If the Court does overturn current law, expect the people to vote on a ballot initiative to ammend our state constitution, just like they did in California.
"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain." Official Motto of the State of Iowa
→ Boston Legal
December 9, 2008 - 09:27 ET by Cool ArrowI'm watching Boston Legal from last night.
Denny Crane and Alan Shore want to get married to skirt the tax laws. It's hilarious.
Sounds like a TV version
December 9, 2008 - 09:32 ET by motherbeltSounds like a TV version of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
→ Chuck & Larry
December 9, 2008 - 09:51 ET by Cool ArrowSort of. Except they are blatant in their attempt to circumvent the law as heterosexuals.
They even had to fight an injunction brought by the Gay/Lesbian Alliance for making a sham of Massachusetts Same Sex Laws.
That's so ironic.
December 11, 2008 - 14:03 ET by ChesterBogusThose two are engaging in real traditional marriage, unlike that revolutionary, new marriage for love that y'all are advocating.
Everyone knows that traditional marriage was originally a social and economic contract, NOT an issue of love or even of sexuality.
Marriage has traditionally been nothing more than a way to attain social legitimacy for certain aspects of life. In our culture, it is a way to establish legitimate heirs to our name and property. Our own culture is full of examples of children being shunned for their status as bastards, born out of wedlock. In some cultures, an unmarried person simply has no social standing whatsoever - the Balinese are not allowed to participate in village councils until they get married. Islam, for example, allows polygyny in order to give women security and social status. Without a husband, they have no social standing - therefore, men are discouraged from marrying more than woman at a time. It is too big a responsibility.
In fact, in Japan, traditional marriage remains a social and economic relationship. Many Japanese women allow their husbands to seek sexual gratification from girlfriends or prostitutes as long as they maintain the household's well being.That's because a traditional marriage is not about love or even about sex - it is about social legitimacy of one kind or another. Many cultures participate in dowry or bride price rituals for this very reason.
Here's the best part: in a few cultures, it was traditionally allowed for two men or two women to marry each other in order to gain those social benefits. It wasn't of course a normal marriage, and heirs would have to be adopted or a third party brought into the situation, but the two partners gained full social benefits and legitimacy from their same-sex marriage. It was traditional, though, unfortunately, that traditional form of marriage has probably died out.
In other words, Chuck and Larry and the characters on Boston Legal are actually engaging in a VERY traditional form of marriage. Because marriage is really just that - a contract between two people for economic or social benefits or legitimacy.
Nothing more.
That's what makes y'all so funny - you ask for traditional marriage without, apparently, having ANY clue what that means.
Anyway, if you were so serious about the sanctity of marriage, you would be trying to get divorce banned.