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IowaPolitics.com: Dean doubts ballot-box influence of same-sex marriage issue
5/30/2009

By Tyler O'Neil
For IowaPolitics.com

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said Thursday night in Des Moines that he was "shocked" by the Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage and said he doubts gay marriage will be a hot-button issue in the coming election cycle as it was in 2004 when he ran for president.

“An awful lot of us, including me, never thought we would get a state in the Heartland this early," Dean said at a One Iowa fundraiser. "It’s a sort of testament to the sort of thoughtfulness and fairness of the Iowan people.”

Dean was the first governor to sign a civil union bill into law. Same-sex marriage is now legal in five states -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine -- and another vote on the issue is expected by the New Hampshire House in early June. Dean said he knows “what it takes to stand up for a decision like this, and it takes a lot of courage.”

The former Democratic National Committee chairman said the country is experiencing a general change in attitude on the issue. He said as gays and lesbians feel more comfortable expressing their identities, they are putting a face with the cause and that is “turning the tide.”

“Everyone has gay friends,” Dean said. “It is much harder to turn your back on someone you know, someone you see as a human being.”

But One Iowa Campaign Director Brad Clark said “we have a lot of work to do, and that is why we’re here tonight.” Thursday’s event, held at One Iowa Executive Director Carolyn Jenison’s home, drew a crowd of 150 donors all looking to help the organization grow and protect marriage equality.

Dean headlined Thursday night's fundraiser for One Iowa, but the main focus was to pay homage to Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and House Speaker Pat Murphy, who vocally supported the April 3 Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages.

“Thank you for standing up for our families,” said Carolyn Jenison, executive director of One Iowa, the state's largest gay-rights advocacy group.

Gronstal and Murphy deflected the praise and credited Iowa’s culture and historical respect for civil rights. “I would say (Iowa is) a trend setter,” said Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. “We have been the nation’s leader in a lot of civil rights issues and this in one more step in that direction.”

Gronstal also praised the grassroots movement towards marriage equality and the couples who spearheaded the lawsuit. “It wasn’t seven judges in black robes,” he said. “It wasn’t a bunch of old white guys and a few white women in the Iowa Senate. This was six really brave couples who put their necks on the line a few years ago. So to those six couples, lets applaud them tonight.”

The Democratic leaders said their big hope would be that they would not need to do anything more with the issue. Murphy said gay marriage opponents would most likely try to use the same legislation they introduced this session, House Joint Resolution 6, but it is unlikely it would pass. As for a constitutional convention, Murphy believes adding a ban on gay marriage would go against the ideals of the document.

“What people are talking about it taking a document that guarantees rights and trying to turn it into a document that starts denying rights,” said Murphy, D-Dubuque. “And that just doesn’t work in this country.”


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