Fun with Numbers - Marriage Equity

The Iowa Department of Public Health, the keeper of our state's vital statistics, has a new report  on marriage licenses issued between April and the end of December 2009. That includes same-sex marriages made legal by an April 3 Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

The report is below for your perusal.

A few highlights:

1,783 -- Number of same-gender licenses issued by Iowa counties

17,600 -- Total marriage licenses issued.

901 -- License issue where no gender was specified.

14,916 -- Opposite-gender licenses issued.

1,138 -- Female-female licences.

645 -- Male-male licenses.

410 -- Same-gender licenses issued in Polk County, the state's highest total.

208 -- Same-gender licenses issued in both Johnson and Scott counties.

94 -- Same-gender licenses issued in Linn County

82 -- The number of counties where no same-gender licenses were issued.

So, at a minimum, 3,500+ people, and maybe more among the "no-gender given" group, benefited from the court's ruling and joined the ranks of we married folk. As a point of comparison, Sioux Center has 6,327 people. But in a stunning development, there were no gay marriages in Sioux County.

Not sure how the culture warriors will spin these significant but modest numbers to fit their doomsday scenarios. But I bet they'll try.

Data Report Registrar Marriages by County4 2009 Thru12 2009