One Iowa is airing this television commercial in five markets around Iowa:

The full transcript of the ad is after the jump. I like the way the commercial places marriage equality and the Supreme Court's decision within the long tradition of diverse people finding freedom in Iowa under our state's Constitution. (Democratic legislative leaders cited Iowa's tradition of leadership in civil rights in their statement welcoming the Varnum v Brien decision. The historical landmarks they cited prompted Lambda Legal attorney Camilla Taylor to start building a case for marriage equality in Iowa in 2002.)

One Iowa's commercial also reminds viewers that the Supreme Court unanimously struck down discrimination and that the ruling "will not change religious marriage or how each religion defines that."

Visually, the ad mostly contains photos of Iowa landscapes, buildings and families (gay and straight), with a few words shown against a blank screen for emphasis. When the voice-over says, "some things remain the same," the word "hope" appears on the screen. When the voice-over says the "justices were not divided," the word "courage" appears on the screen. When the voice-over admonishes "those outsiders who want to put discrimination into our constitution," the word "respect" appears on the screen.

According to Iowa Politics, One Iowa is spending $75,000 to run this commercial for a week "in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Quad Cities and Sioux City media markets; on cable stations like CNN, MSNBC, HLN, Lifetime, and HGTV; and on Des Moines broadcast stations as well."

Donating to One Iowa will help keep this ad on the air. It's a welcome contrast to the absurd scare-mongering of the National Organization for Marriage's television ad attacking gay marriage. That commercial has already been debunked by Human Rights Campaign and brutally parodied on the Colbert Report.

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The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower-court ruling that struck down Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act. Various legal experts who watched the oral arguments in December expected the plaintiffs in Varnum v Brien to prevail, but it is still very welcome news for marriage equality supporters across the country.

Rallies celebrating the freedom to marry in Iowa will take place in many locations today. Go to the One Iowa website for event details. Many business owners will also be celebrating today, because the wedding and hospitality industries will benefit from a wave of same-sex marriages across the state.

State budget revenues will increase as well. Last year the Williams Institute at UCLA law school considered the economic impact of allowing same-sex couples to marry in Iowa and concluded:

Using the best data available, we estimate that allowing same-sex couples to marry will result in a net gain of approximately $5.3 million each year for the State. This net impact will be the result of savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefit programs and an increase in state income and sales tax revenue.

The Republican Party of Iowa will surely be leading a charge to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, but Iowa is not California. It's a lot harder to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot here. An amendment banning gay marriage would need to be approved by two consecutive legislative sessions (the 2009/2010 session and the 2010/2011 session) before going to the public in a general-election referendum. So, the earliest Iowa voters would be able to weigh in on this issue would be in November 2011.

I heard on Iowa Public Radio this morning that legislative leaders say there is no time to consider an amendment on marriage this year. The legislative session is scheduled to end within a couple of weeks, and the "funnel" date by which bills had to clear a legislative committee passed nearly a month ago.

The 56-44 Democratic majority in the Iowa House may or may not be solid on this issue, but I believe that the 32-18 Democratic majority in the Iowa Senate will be enough to block any Proposition 8-style constitutional amendment during the 2010 session.

Even if Republicans made electoral gains on this issue and picked up seats in November 2010, they would have to get a constitutional amendment through the 2011-2012 legislature and the 2013-2014 legislature before the amendment could get on the ballot. That would mean Iowans could vote on same-sex marriage rights in November 2013. By that time I believe support for gay marriage will have grown substantially.

No doubt we will soon see new Iowa polls on the marriage equality issue. I'll be interested to see whether the coverage of the Varnum v. Brien case has moved public opinion since a Big Ten poll in October 2008 found that 28 percent of Iowans supported gay marriage, with another 30 percent in favor of same-sex civil unions.

In February I posted some links on making the case for marriage equality, which may be helpful if you have friends or relatives who are upset by the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling. An important point to stress is that this judgment relates to civil marriage. It does not require any clergy to officiate at same-sex marriages, or any church to recognize them.

Also, the Iowa Supreme Court can't force anyone to approve of gay marriages. As I wrote in December,

Most of us can think of marriages we don't approve of. Depending on your values, that could be 17-year-olds who dropped out of high school, a couple who are several decades apart in age, a professor marrying a former student, an impulsive remarriage after someone was widowed, an "open marriage" between non-monogamous heterosexuals, or a person who appears to have married a rich person for money. I know people who disapprove of my own marriage, because my husband is not Jewish. But no one would dispute that all of these marriages are valid under state law.

In an ideal world, I would want everyone to accept all loving couples and not be judgmental, but I think we need people to understand that they can still disapprove of gay marriage, even if it is legal. Widespread tolerance of gay relationships would be great, but it is not essential.

Please share your thoughts on the legal and political implications of today's ruling. My overwhelming feeling is that it's a great day to be an Iowan!

UPDATE: High traffic is interfering with the Iowa Supreme Court's server (Bleeding Heartland's too!), but the Iowa Politics site has created pdf files you can download if you want to read the Supreme Court's summary and/or the full text of the opinion.

SECOND UPDATE: After reading today's joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, I am convinced that a constitutional amendment to overturn today's court ruling is going nowhere in 2010. I'm not the biggest fan of our legislative leadership, but they struck exactly the right tone today.

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I received an e-mail from One Iowa announcing that the Iowa Supreme Court will hand down its ruling in the Varnum v. Brien same-sex marriage case tomorrow (April 3). The court heard oral arguments in the case in December. Frankly, I was hoping the ruling would come out after the Iowa legislature had adjourned later this month, but no matter what the court decides or when it announces the ruling, the political battle over gay marriage will continue in Iowa.

Bleeding Heartland user jpmassar went over the legal issues concerning Varnum v Brien here. Daily Kos user Osorio also wrote a good legal primer on this case.

Click here to read my summary of the main points from the oral arguments, along with some analysis of the hearing.

I'll put up a post as soon as I can tomorrow once the ruling becomes public.

Win or lose, One Iowa is planning to hold rallies in the following cities: Ames, Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Decorah, Des Moines, Iowa City, Grinnell/Newton, Mason City, Quad Cities and Sioux City. If you live in Iowa or within striking distance, go here to sign up to attend one of these rallies.

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While you've been distracted by matters such as the economic stimulus bill and the government's plan for bailing out Wall Street banks, you probably missed an important story of the week:

Groups supporting homosexuality are attempting to co-opt Valentine's Day to promote their agenda. Homosexual activists brought "gay-wedding" cake to the Capitol yesterday, and were lobbying for a radical change to Iowa marriage law. They have asked their supporters to write letters to the editor this week calling for the redefinition of marriage. They are using Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and text messaging to promote their agenda. Each of their efforts is designed to "change the hearts and minds of Iowa legislators."

That is an excerpt from a message the religious conservative Iowa Family Policy Center e-mailed to its supporters yesterday. I learned of it from the advocacy group One Iowa, which has organized lots of events this week promoting marriage equality. They drew 80 supporters to the state capitol on Tuesday to speak with legislators before and during a "Let Them Eat Cake" reception.

I don't think the Iowa Family Policy Center needs to worry, though. Same-sex marriage advocates will never co-opt Valentine's Day as successfully as florists and those who sell candy and greeting cards have already co-opted the feast day of Saint Valentine. In fact, Christians may themselves have co-opted the Roman festival of Lupercus, which took place on February 14 and 15.

I'm posting about this today because I believe marriage equality advocates in other states can learn from what One Iowa is doing here. In conjunction with partners such as Lambda Legal, they are scheduling movie screenings as well as marriage equality and "Let My Parents Marry" town hall meetings across the state--not only in Des Moines and some liberal college towns. They are strengthening PFLAG chapters in Iowa too. They recently released a report by the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law about the expected budget impact of legalizing same-sex marriage in Iowa (pdf file).

I'm impressed by One Iowa's level of activity, given that it may be months before the Iowa Supreme Court issues a ruling in the Varnum v Brien case on same-sex marriage. The Iowa legislature is unlikely to take up this matter before the 2010 session. Even if social conservatives were able to get a Proposition 8-style constitutional amendment through the legislature (which I consider unlikely), the soonest Iowans could vote on the measure would be 2011.

If gay marriage does eventually come to a public referendum in Iowa, the work that One Iowa is doing now will pay dividends.

Even if your state seems years away from moving toward same-sex marriage rights, it probably isn't too early for grassroots organizing on the issue. Someday those PFLAG chapters and other social networks could increase your leverage with policy-makers.

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On Saturday night two women who belong to the house of worship I attend made a lifetime commitment to each other in front of about 200 friends, relatives and fellow congregants.

It was a moving ceremony, followed by a joyous reception.

Their loving bond is no threat to anyone's marriage.

They were already legally married in California this summer. In lieu of gifts, they asked well-wishers to make a donation to any of several charitable causes. They also set up a "wedding registry" at Equality California for the "No on Prop. 8" campaign. Proposition 8 seeks to ban gay marriage in California.

If marriage equality is important to you, consider donating to Equality California so they can collect on a new $1 million matching gift pledge and spread their message in the next two weeks. I also encourage you to get involved with one of the LGBT advocacy organizations in your state. In Iowa, the most prominent group advocating for marriage equality is One Iowa.

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