Six gay couples seek validation of their unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10507516

Published Sunday December 7, 2008
Six gay couples seek validation of their unions
BY ELIZABETH AHLIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Reva Evans and Ingrid Olson share a home. They share bank accounts. They share a son.

But they are not married.


Ingrid Olson, left, and Reva Evans of Council Bluffs, with son Jamison, 2, have been together 11 years and are suing for the right to get married. The Iowa Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday.


With one simple line in Iowa state law, the women are prevented from joining their lives together legally: "Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid."

The Council Bluffs women make up one of six same-sex Iowa couples suing for the right to marry in Iowa. This week, their fate will be in the hands of the Iowa Supreme Court. Justices are scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in the case Varnum v. Brien, which challenges the constitutionality of the state law banning same-sex marriage.

A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would not directly affect gay couples in Nebraska or other states, said Mark Kende, a Drake University law professor and director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center.

But, he said, its relevance could be seen in future challenges to laws banning gay marriage. Petitioners likely would seek to portray same-sex marriage as becoming more conventional, Kende said.

FULL story at link.

[terrya]

1. The photograph in your post is that of a family.

And the parents in that family deserve to have the right to be legally married. So that their family can enjoy legal protection.

My best wises and hopes for Ingrid Olson and Reva Evans and all of the gay and lesbian couples in Iowa...and, ultimately the United States...to be able to enjoy the full, legal benefits of maariage. The Mormons and the Catholics and the other bigots can put up some setbacks...and they have. But I KNOW we'll ultimately prevail.