As much as I hate the cold weather, and yesterday morning it was very cold and windy, I stood outside of City Hall with about a hundred other residents of Des Moines to join hundreds of cities across the country in a protest rally against the passage of Proposition 8 in California which took away the civil right of marriage in California. I’m still confused on how a majority is ever allowed to vote for a minorities rights, or why the idea of two people in loving committed relationship that want the same 1,138 rights afforded to straight-married couples is such a divisive issue. No one is asking for any church-recognized marriage, just the same civil-marriage that is required by law to be recognized as a marriage.

At least here in Des Moines, and in Iowa we may have a chance to show that we are still a progressive state on civil rights issues. On Dec. 9, the Iowa Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Varnum vs. Brien, which will determine whether gay marriage is legalized in Iowa.

You may not know it, but Iowa has a long history of being very progressive on civil rights issues. For example:

• Iowa public schools were desegregated a century before 1954’s Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka. 
• Iowa was the first to admit a woman to the bar, in 1869 – three years before the Supreme Court ruled that states could deny women the right to practice law. 
• Iowa abolished slavery a generation before the federal 13th Amendment. 
• Iowa had the the first black Miss America contestant. 
• Iowa had the first black athlete’s at it’s major universities. 

 
State Senator Matt McCoy said it best yesterday, “This is the civil rights fight of our time.”

Here are few more pictures from other rallys around the country as well as a link to a gallery by state courtesy of Towleroad.

Photo by Peter Parker

Photo by Paul Merrell

Photo by Michael Crawford

And finally a video from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann that says it best.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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