US | gay marriage Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Gay Marriage By Kevin Spak Posted Apr 3, 2009 9:30 AM CDT Copied Tim McQuillan, of Ames, Iowa, speaks to reporters accompanied by his husband Sean McQuillan, right, after the Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to the state's same sex marriage ban. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Iowa’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down a statute limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman, the Des Moines Register reports. The ruling upholds a lower court decision allowing six gay couples to wed. Iowa becomes the first Midwestern state to allow gay marriage, and the fourth state to do so nationwide. The court ruled that the marriage-defining law violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa constitution. State legislators have tried to introduce an amendment to that constitution, but that process would take until at least 2012. In the meantime, weddings can occur, though it’s probable governments will be given two to three months to put the change into place. Read These Next "Admiral Piett" of the Star Wars universe died from COVID. Trump voter who supported mass deportations could be deported herself. Rescuer in floods gets a poignant question. Michael Douglas 'had to stop'—but he's not retired. Report an error