In a surprising move the New Hampshire Senate passed a gay marriage bill by a 13-11 margin, including some last minute additions to placate conservatives. From Reuters:

The last-minute changes to the legislation would allow clergy to decline to marry homosexual couples and give couples the freedom to either keep the words “bride” and “groom” on marriage licenses, or use the word “spouse” instead.

Because the Senate and House passed separate versions, they must resolve their differences before the bill can go to the governor, who in 2007 signed a law recognizing same-sex civil unions, making New Hampshire the fourth state to do so.

If the governor signs the bill New Hampshire will become the 5th state to allow same-sex couples to marry.

A group of concerned Virginia citizens have formed the Protect Isabella Coalition in response to a custody battle between lesbian parents over their six-year-old daughter Isabella. Birth mother Lisa Miller who now lives in Virginia is fighting for sole custody of their daughter from her former partner Janet Jenkins in Vermont. The couple was joined by civil union in 2001 but split a few years later when Jenkins decided she was no longer a lesbian and moved back to Virginia. Isabella was just 17 months old.

To drum up support and media attention for the case the Protect Isabella Coalition has put out the following television ad in Virginia.

And from their website’s Action page…

What can you do to help?

First, pray. We believe God has a wonderful plan for both Lisa and Isabella. Please pray with us that they will be able to stay together, without the disruptive visitations ordered by the Vermont Judge. Pray that God would turn Janet Jenkins’ heart and open her eyes to Isabella’s real needs, which are far greater than her own. Pray for Janet’s salvation. Pray also for godly wisdom for our nation’s leaders, our legislators and judges.

Currently Virginia courts have refused to deny a Vermont court order granting Jenkins visitation rights. Unfortunately Miller has frequently been in contempt of that order by refusing visitation, and is reported in Newsweek as likening the visits to “…handing my child over to the milkman.” Miller who is now a devout Baptist also said that Jenkin’s lesbian “lifestyle” would be harmful to the child and was “fundamentally wrong.”

I wonder what’s more harmful? Having a lesbian mom or an ex-lesbian mom whose heart is filled with bigotry and hate?

Republican Vermont governor James Douglas has vetoed the gay marriage bill that recently passed both legislative houses. From his office…

“This legislation does not address the inequalities espoused by proponents. Regardless of whether the term marriage is applied , federal benefits will still be denied to same sex couples in Vermont. And states that do not recognize same sex marriage or civil unions will also deny state rights and responsibilities to same sex couples married in Vermont. This bill will not change that fact.

Vermont’s civil union law has afforded the same state rights, responsibilities and benefits of marriage to same sex couples. Our civil union law serves Vermont well and I would support congressional action to extend those benefits at the federal level to states that recognize same sex unions. But I believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman.”

From WCAX in Vermont…

The Senate is expected to override the veto tomorrow morning. It is unclear what the House will do, and is currently shy the two thirds majority required to override the veto. The 11 Democrats who originally voted against the bill now support it, unhappy that the governor announced his intent to veto the bill before they had passed it.

Marriage equality in Iowa? Folks, maybe it’s time give Iowa a try. I’m reminded of the clip from Music Man below…

I guess they are not so stubborn after all.

From the DesMoines Register…

Today’s decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the third in the country, to allow same-sex marriages. Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, financed the court battle and represented six couples who challenged Iowa’s 10-year-old ban on gay marriage.

Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady, who wrote the unanimous decision, at one point invoked the court’s first-ever decision, in 1839, which struck down slavery laws 17 years before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a slave owner to treat a person as property.

Iowa’s gay marriage ban “is unconstitutional, because the county has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage,” Cady wrote in the 69-page opinion that seemed to dismiss the concept of civil unions as an option for gay couples.

The ruling also addresses the religious concerns of those against gay marriage…

“Our constitution does not permit any branch of government to resolve these types of religious debates and entrusts to courts the task of ensuring that government avoids them,” the opinion says.

The ruling explicitly does not affect “the freedom of a religious organization to define marriage it solemnizes as unions between a man and a woman,” the justices stressed.

It’s a great day to be from I-o-wa!