The Week -- Equality, hyberbole and pancakes

I'm sure many Iowans who witnessed the arrival of Friday's landmark U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage felt a touch of nostalgia.

It's been six years-plus since Iowa's Supreme Court handed down its ruling making marriage equality the law of our land, and the similarities were obvious. Anxious early morning waiting erupting into celebration outside a big building with pillars. Tears, cheers, relief and gratitude among couples, their children, families and friends.

A strong sense that something had fundamentally changing for the better. History being made.

'Oh we're thrilled. Oh my gosh,” said Kate Varnum of Cedar Rapids, who was a plaintiff along with her spouse Trish Varnum in Iowa's own landmark Varnum v. Brien decision striking down the state's gay marriage ban. She was home sick Friday morning when SCOTUS made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

'For years, ever since we were able to get legally married, we would cross state lines and say, ‘Hey, it's been nice being married to you.' We won't have that any more. What this means is we can go to Texas where Trish was born and not worry about whether our marriage will be recognized,” Kate said. 'It's a very big deal.”

Agreed. And just like Iowa, Friday gave us a split screen. On one side, joy. On the other, a bunch of harrumphing scolds predicting the end of the world.

'The Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do-redefine marriage. I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat,” said Republican presidential hopeful and radio diet salesman Mike Huckabee.

So the British are coming, apparently for afternoon high tyranny.

Or maybe it's Dred Scott!

'Today, five unelected justices decided to redefine the foundational unit that binds together our society without public debate or input. Now is the people's opportunity respond because the future of the institution of marriage is too important to not have a public debate. The Court is one of three co-equal branches of government and, just as they have in cases from Dred Scott to Plessy, the Court has an imperfect track record. The stakes are too high and the issue too important to simply cede the will of the people to five unaccountable justices,” said GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum.

It was the clear will of the people in 2008 and 2012 than neither of these guys should be president. And yet, here they are. Cede, already.

Or maybe it's like Roe v. Wade.

'The Supreme Court got it wrong. This is judicial activism pure and simple – on par with Roe v. Wade. Nothing in the Constitution requires the redefinition of marriage and unelected judges shouldn't have redefined marriage for the entire country. Now the question is whether religious liberty and the rights of conscience will be respected,” Heritage Action, a branch of the Heritage Foundation, said in a statement.

Discrimination, it's our heritage. You can't change it. Because tradition, that's why.

Let's pose that religion question to Justice Kennedy, who wrote the 5-4 majority opinion.

'Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned,” Kennedy wrote. 'The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.”

Seems clear. And what about this redefining marriage business that has the Huck in a huff?

'It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right,” Kennedy wrote in the decision's eloquent conclusion.

Yeah, well, take it from Iowans, a clear, rational, reasoned argument isn't going to be good enough. Eloquence will take a holiday, with fact as a traveling companion.

Exhibit A, Iowa's self-appointed Family Leader Bob Vander Plaats, thrice gubernatorial reject of the people's will, told Radio Iowa that, despite a landmark court ruling and a massive national shift in public opinion toward equality, it's not over.

'This is going to get every common sense red, white and blue American out of the woodwork to take an active role in their government and to really hold in check a government that's gone completely out of control,” said Vander Plaats, who once insisted, as governor, he would have the power to nullify a supreme court ruling with an executive order. Out of control unless he's in contrrol.

Nothing is over until people making a living crusading against equality say it's over. So long as there are checks, there will be a path to righteousness. Leading to more checks, naturally.

And, of course, it's not over.

Like Iowa in 2009, now comes a time of overreaction, irrational predictions and backlashing.

Rhetoric will bear no resemblance to reality. Prophets will step forward claiming to be the only true, God-appointed arbiters of what the Constitution really means. We'll hear that the nation's judicial system is so awash in tyranny it must be brought low, all because it issued a ruling they don't like.

Folks who want to be president of a whole, diverse and changing nation will spend precious time at Pizza Ranches explaining how diversity and change are dire threats to the republic. They'll want to change the Constitution to enshrine those fears of the future in law. The divided nature of Friday's decision will provide sustenance for their great march backward.

Luckily, this very same Supreme Court spawned an unbridled typhoon of unregulated political cash. That will come in handy for brining all of this nonsense to your TV screen through 2016.

But, as Iowans also know, eventually, these heaping piles of hooey will be exposed to sunlight. And it won't smell like a wedding bouquet. People will stop listening to doom and gloom and start living in communities with same-sex couples and their families. Couples will get married and, miraculously, the earth won't open to swallow anyone. Red, white and blue common sense Americans will take a look around and wonder why the perpetually outraged don't get a real job, or at least a hobby.

Churches will remain open and free to conduct worship as their members see fit. We've been waiting six years, and the polygamists have yet to show up. As for the institution of marriage, Iowa's divorce rate is as low as it's been in decades. Rep. Steve King never got his 'Gay mecca.” Pity.

'People in Iowa understand, gosh, the sky hasn't fallen,” Kate Varnum said. 'I think this is good news for all Iowans. I'm very humbled to think of how far we've come in the 10 years since we filed. It's incredible. If you look at when we filed the case, we're light years away.

'To think that our son will never know a time when his parents' marriage was not accepted,” Kate said. The couple's son Alex is 3-and-a-half.

So a very big day. And there will be pancakes.

'Alex has requested pancakes for dinner, so I think that's how we're going to celebrate,” Kate said.