Proud Iowan

Okay so most people know what my home state did a little more than a week ago. The state supreme court decided that a ban on same-sex marriage was against the constitution. YIPPIE! I am excited about this for so many reasons. Right now my biggest excitement though is because my cousin Michael is due to marry his partner Heath on May 9th in Des Moines. I am tickled pink about this.

Recently a good friend sent me this cartoon about Iowa's newest decision.
All sorts of people have written interesting pieces about the state. Including those who at one point were Iowans like this article from Ross Hyzer who was my neighbor growing up. Or this piece from the New York Times op-ed page which made me tear up. I honestly didn't know that Iowa had that kind of a history. Maureen Dowd wrote about Iowa in a piece that was semi-mocking but really all in good fun, as we Iowans love a good Iowa joke when we hear one, well as long as it is funny.

I learned a lot about Iowa over the past week. I didn't know that the University of Iowa in 1847 became the first public university to admit women and men on an equal basis. I also didn't know that Iowa in 1851 ended restrictions on interracial marriage, more than a century before the US Supreme Court ruled it illegal.

Today a friend wrote me that she felt she couldn't be a part of the Episcopal Church any longer because the Bishop of Iowa Alan Scarfe said that he couldn't allow priests in the state to sign marriage licenses. I wish that it were different. I know why Alan cannot do so and am disappointed that we as a church aren't there yet. I also feel though that part of my responsibility as an Episcopalian is to change from within and not leave. I know it isn't the choice that everyone will make, nor should they but it is the choice that I am making. Grumble, there is nothing like taking the hard way out.