Lambda Legal Asks Iowa Court Today To Rule for Same-Sex Couples Seeking Marriage

(Des Moines, Tuesday, January 30, 2007) — Today, Lambda Legal will submit papers explaining to the state court that same-sex couples in Iowa need the protections and security that only marriage provides and seeking a ruling for the couples and their children in their lawsuit seeking full marriage equality.

“This case is a question of fairness and equality for same-sex couples across Iowa, and we are asking the court to decide based on clear Iowa legal principles,” said Camilla Taylor, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. “Couples in Iowa want the responsibilities and need the protections marriage provides — they shouldn’t have to wait through a long legal process while their families are vulnerable.”

In December 2005, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit with the Polk County Court on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Iowa, arguing that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the equal protection and due process guarantees in the Iowa State Constitution. The papers to be filed today include affidavits from the same-sex couples in the lawsuit explaining first-hand to the court why they want to marry and the harms they suffer from being denied this right.

Along with the papers to be filed today by Lambda Legal, faith leaders and religious groups from across the state are filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the right for same-sex couples to marry. The Iowa Civil Liberties Union is also filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the couples on behalf of Iowa law professors and historians.

“The county argues that the government has an interest in supporting heterosexuals who have children, but the county does not explain why it is okay for the government to turn its back on thousands of lesbian and gay Iowans and children raised by same-sex couples who must go without the protections that come with civil marriage. The papers filed today include affidavits from leading child development and other experts who explain the need for marriage rights for same-sex couples,” Taylor added.

“Children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents,” says Dr. Michael Lamb, a world-renowned child developmental psychologist with over 30 years of research in the field, who headed the Section on Social and Emotional Development of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 17 years and who is testifying on behalf of the plaintiffs in this case. “There is nothing about the sex or sexual orientation of a parent that affects that parent’s capacity to be a good parent or that affects a child’s healthy development.”

Lambda Legal points to a Williams Institute study released in September 2005, which found that more than 39% of same-sex couples across the US between the ages of 22-55 are raising children, adding up to over quarter of a million children under the age of 18.

The plaintiffs in Lambda Legal’s Iowa marriage case include: Kate, 33, and Trish Varnum, 41, of Cedar Rapids, who have been in a committed relationship for nearly six years. In addition to the Varnums are David Twombley, 65, and Larry Hoch, 64, of Urbandale, both retired teachers who have been in a committed relationship for over five years; Dawn and Jen BarbouRoske, 38 and 36 respectively, of Iowa City, who have been together for more than 16 years and their two children, McKinley, 8, and Breeanna, 4; Ingrid Olson, 28, and Reva Evans, 32, of Council Bluffs, who have been together for nine years and their son, Jamison, seven months; Jason Morgan, 36, and Chuck Swaggerty, 34, of Sioux City, who have been together for nine years; and Bill Musser, 48, and Otter Dreaming, 49, of Decorah, who have been together for over five years.

Camilla Taylor, Staff Attorney, Kenneth Upton, Senior Staff Attorney, and Patricia M. Logue, Director of Constitutional Litigation, are handling the case for Lambda Legal. They are joined by former Iowa Solicitor General Dennis Johnson of Dorsey and Whitney in Des Moines.

The case is Varnum v. Brien.

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Contact: Jackie Yodashkin T: 212-809-8585 ext. 229

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.