Marriage heading to court

DES MOINES -- When the state Supreme Court convenes to hear competing sides argue a legal case, most Iowans usually don't think party time.

But the hearing Tuesday that is spurring "watch parties" in Iowa City, Ames and Des Moines for Iowans interested in the outcome of a challenge to the state's traditional marriage law is hardly judicial business as usual.

The 75 minutes attorneys will spend presenting the legal justifications for upholding or overturning Iowa's Defense of Marriage Act will be witnessed by about 130 spectators granted access to the Iowa Judicial Building and a wide-reaching virtual audience tuning into history via live audio-video streams.

"We're really expecting a big turnout and we're trying to drive our supporters to these watch parties so that it's just not mayhem at the courthouse," said Justin Uebelhor, communications director for One Iowa, the state's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group.

While court-watching parties are uncommon, Steve Davis, spokesman for the Iowa's judicial branch, said they are welcomed given the limited seating and security concerns surrounding a high-profile, potentially emotional case attracting national attention.

"Because of the potential significance and the broad reaching implications of what happens if you redefine marriage, it impacts every area of society and it impacts many of the areas of law," said Bryan English of the Iowa Family Policy Center, a conservative Christian group.

"It really is one of those significant, fundamental underpinnings of society, so it is very significant and I'm not surprised that there is a lot of attention being paid to it," he added.

The Varnum vs. Brien outcome could produce a landmark Iowa court decision that grants legal status to civil marriages for couples of the same sex or trigger a new political push to legislate more civil rights to gays and lesbians currently denied under a state law that only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman.

The case of first impression was foisted on the seven-member Supreme Court after a Polk County district judge ruled Iowa's law barring same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. The 2007 lower-court decision was stayed upon appeal shortly thereafter but one couple, Tim and Sean McQuillan from Ames, managed to take advantage of the brief legal window to become Iowa's first and only legally married same-sex couple.

"We're very pleased with how things turned out in district court and we have high hopes that the Supreme Court will uphold that ruling," said Kate Varnum, a Cedar Rapids woman who bears the lead name in the legal challenge brought by six same-sex couples in 2005.

Varnum and her domestic partner, Trish Varnum, plan to be among the 80 spectators in the courtroom Tuesday when the justices hear the opposing attorneys' oral arguments. She said they have faced legal hurdles since their 2004 commitment ceremony that traditional male-female couples do not come up against -- rights that would be "automatic" if the Supreme Court knocks down Iowa's decade-long same-sex marriage ban.

"The significance is incredible," said Varnum. "Without marriage, there's no way to show who Trish is in my life."

English said marriage has been defined as a legal union of one man and one woman since the state's foundation and public surveys indicate Iowans "overwhelmingly" support the current statute.

"It's settled law in that the Defense of Marriage Act in Iowa is a mirror of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and that's stood up under judicial review at the federal level. So there's good reason to expect the Supreme Court to do the same with the Defense of Marriage Act of Iowa," English said.

"If the court decides to uphold the lower court decision instead of supporting the existing law, that's a deviation from what we would expect out of the Supreme Court," he added. "That's a fairly radical redefinition of the law."

Davis said Tuesday's scheduled oral arguments hearing is unique and is generating a lot of interest from media and activists on both sides of the issue. There are a limited number of seats in the courtroom and an auditorium that are being reserved on a first-come, first-served basis and those permitted access will be subject to tight security measures, he said.

"If they have shirts, buttons, arm bands or signs, there will be places for them to gather outside the building. But they're not going to be allowed inside the building -- no cell phones, no recording devices, no placards, no banners, no buttons, no shirts that have one side or the other represented," he said.

"We've tried to look at it from every angle and to be prepared for any needs that might come up," Davis added.