The Iowa Supreme Court, citing California's historic marriage decision, overturned a ban Friday on same-sex marriage in a ruling that emphasized the need for courts to protect minorities even when public sentiment is against them.
The unanimous decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state to legalize gay marriage, which is also permitted in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The decision came as the California Supreme Court considers whether to overturn Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned gay marriages after the court's groundbreaking ruling May 15 that allowed them.
Gay rights activists and a legal scholar said Friday's ruling could provide ammunition for overturning Proposition 8, either in court or at the ballot box. During a hearing last month, a majority of the California court appeared ready to uphold the ballot measure.
In the Iowa decision, Justice Mark Cady wrote: "We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification."
Gay rights advocates were jubilant.
"It's a red-letter day for us here in Iowa," said Matt McCoy, a gay member of the state Senate who cheered the decision from the courthouse steps in Des Moines.
Foes vowed to fight it. Bryan English, spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, said the decision was like "a death in the family."
Following a few minutes of mourning on the courthouse steps after the decision was handed down, English said, he and other opponents walked across the street to the Legislature's offices and began lobbying lawmakers for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
That would not be as easy as it was in California.
Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Legislature must first vote for an amendment in two consecutive sessions. Only then can a measure go on the ballot, where voters can approve it with a simple majority.
In California, Proposition 8, which voters approved by 52% to 48%, reached the ballot through a signature drive.
On the other hand, a ballot fight in Iowa, which has just 3 million people, would cost significantly less than the more than $70 million total spent by both sides in California.
