Gay marriage arrives in Iowa

I wouldn't have believed it if a year ago you had told me gay marriage would be arriving in Iowa in the near future. But here we are, a day into marriage for anyone -- regardless of gender -- and it got off to a bang!

For a listing of all Des Moines Register related articles, visit here.

For a map of where people married on the first day, see here. My home county of Johnson County (where Iowa City is located) came in second at 46 marriages, just behind Polk County (where Des Moines, the capital, is located).

But what caught my eye the most was the article "Religious backers of gay marriage celebrate". Yep, that's right -- religious backers, rather than religious opponents. One of the people who spoke said this:

"What happens in Iowa is not just about Iowa. Future generations will look back at this place, at this time, as the point when the tide started to turn."

And turn it might be doing. Just out today was a CBS/NYTimes poll showing fully 42% favor marriage, while another 25% favor civil unions but not marriage. This leaves only 28% demanding that LGBT people receive no rights whatsoever. As pointed out by the BTB, this is a dramatic shift since the last poll, showing a 9% jump in support in only the last six weeks. Anomaly? Maybe. But let's hope that it's "the Iowa effect".

(Day 318)