In the past week, gay and lesbians have gained the right to marry in the states of Vermont and Iowa.
That’s right, Vermont and Iowa!
They have joined the ranks of Connecticut and Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal.
Vermont’s legislature overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a marriage bill on April 7, marking the first time a state’s legislature has legalized gay marriage. Marriage equality in the other states — which briefly included California, until Proposition 8 — was the result of court action.
The victory in Vermont really wasn’t all that surprising. A state with that many bed-and-breakfasts can’t ignore gay marriage for too long. (And it was the first state to recognize civil unions.)
But some people are still pinching themselves over Iowa.
Iowa is an overwhelmingly white, Protestant and agricultural state. If you asked a thousand people to name a progressive state, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would pick Iowa. But that didn’t stop the state’s Supreme Court from striking down Iowa’s gay-marriage ban on April 3.
There is a long list of states that should have been ahead of Iowa on this issue — and with Iowa in the win column, how much longer can supposedly forward-thinking states like New Jersey, New York or even Pennsylvania justify not legalizing gay marriage?
Is Pennsylvania really more culturally backward than a state full of cornfields?
Some activists are warning against reading too much into these recent victories and that other states like Florida — which felt the need to define marriage as between one man and one woman in its Constitution back in November — could just as likely go the other way on gay marriage instead of falling into line.
But a light at the end of the tunnel is a light, no matter how faint. Gay-marriage bills also are being considered in Maine and New Hampshire. It’s time to crank up the effort and take some states that can really send a message that this issue isn’t going to stop any time soon.
That’s right: Texas should be next.
Now is the time to show all the right-wing and religious groups that don’t want gay marriage that every time they take away our rights in one state, we’re just going to legalize it in two more states.