Gov. Terry Branstad and top legislative leaders pledged bipartisan cooperation Wednesday after voters kept Democrats in control of the Iowa Senate and narrowed the GOP majority in the Iowa House for the next two years. “Iowa voters once again chose divided government, and their message was unmistakable: They want us to work together in moving [...]
continue »Gazette Editorial Board – The Boy Scouts of America organization is alive and well in Eastern Iowa. The Hawkeye Area Council, which serves 7,500 youths in seven counties, ranked among the nation’s top five BSA councils for membership growth in the year ended June 30. We’re glad to see such a trend. The overall experiences [...]
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By Zach Wahls —- The Boy Scouts of America recently affirmed its anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) policy. As both an Eagle Scout and the son of a lesbian couple, I refuse to stand idly by as an organization I love forfeits both the principles for which it stands and its cultural relevancy [...]
continue »By Iowa City Press-Citizen —- For the past two years, an 11-member special committee has been reviewing whether the Boy Scouts of America — a British-founded organization that, in America, has become as iconic as Mom and Apple Pie — should continue its policy of excluding gays and lesbians. Several other major youth organizations — [...]
continue »DES MOINES – Sunday’s political rhetoric over the same-sex marriage issue was as hot as the August sun as traditionalists called November’s election a “test of faith” and first-lady Mari Culver took her first public stance defending an Iowa court decision legalizing civil marriages for gays and lesbians. “I honor our court’s decision,” Culver told [...]
continue »DES MOINES – If Iowa voters got the chance to weigh in on the marriage issue and decided to let stand a court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Iowa, that outcome would not be the end of the issue, traditional marriage proponents said Tuesday. Bryan English, spokesman for Iowa Family Policy Center Action, said, if [...]
continue »DES MOINES – Traditional marriage defenders said Friday they plan to read proposed bills more closely from now on to make sure language legalizing same-sex marriage does not make its way into Iowa law surreptitiously. Their heightened awareness was triggered by a situation earlier this week when the state Department of Revenue’s tax policy cleanup [...]
continue »DES MOINES – An alliance of more than 160 Iowa clergy members sent state lawmakers a letter Tuesday supporting civil marriage equality for same-sex couples and opposing efforts to undo it. Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund, said the supporting clergy were from urban and rural areas of [...]
continue »DES MOINES – Gay couples began making wedding plans Friday after the Iowa Supreme Court handed them a landmark victory that makes Iowa the first Midwest state to legalize same-sex marriages. “We are just so incredibly blown away,” said Kate Varnum, a Cedar Rapids woman who officially got engaged to her partner, Trish, after learning [...]
continue »DES MOINES – State lawmakers likely will not address the marriage issue before they adjourn their 2009 regular session regardless of Friday’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling in a same-sex marriage case, top leaders said Thursday. “I think it’s exceedingly unlikely that we will pursue legislation this session on that subject,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, [...]
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