Good As You

Des Moines article had two sentences from Johnson and 90% of the quotes of Kuhle... just on verbiage we know how their editor feels. BUT....the comments are good!..Just working on them, and registered to add a few kudos....especially to those mentioning the definitieve religious article in Newsweek!... Also this great quote from TJ..with interpretation following:
Thomas Jefferson wrote "[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

Freedom of Religion and Freedom FROM Religion is the basis of the United States Constitution, it's why people came here in the first place. Imposing theocratic domination to define marriage is unconstitutional.

Wow, Kuhle got hammered! OMG, he compared us to polygamists. Procreation, children must know their biological parents, etc. How does same-sex marriage affect any of these things!?! Kuhle couldn't answer it. He keeps saying how much over his time he is... Is this because he wants to sit down and stop talking because he knows that the courts' questions are impossible for him to answer? How can he do it with a 'straight' face?

Just found this a description of the Court Hearing being viewed at IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.....Ames, Ia. — Some 30 students, faculty and advisers gathered Tuesday morning in Iowa State University’s Memorial Union to watch live video of the oral arguments before the Iowa Supreme Court on a case involving gay marriage.

“Today is such a historic day for Iowa and the Midwest,” said Brad Freihoefer, 23, the staff coordinator of the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Services office.

Regardless of the outcome of the case, he was happy for the debate to be so public, he said.

The event was organized by his office and One Iowa, a statewide advocacy group for gays and lesbians.

When Polk County Assistant Attorney Roger Kuhle suggested that children were best raised by their birth parents, student Zack Ford shouted out, “Wrong!” 
“I was adopted,” he said to another audience member. 

Ford, 23, who is gay, said later that he found the idea absurd.

“My parents raised me quite lovingly, and I turned out OK,” he said.

Penny Rice, 48, of Ames dismissed the argument that the primary purpose of marriage is to procreate. She said she married her second husband with no intention of having children.

Ames resident Keith Schrag is 70, has three children and five grandchildren, and says he is gay. He has worked some 30 years as a marital and family therapist, and said maintaining a good family life is hard enough without obstacles like not allowing gays to marry.

“It’s very difficult for couples under the best of circumstances,” he said.

Iowa City, Ia. — It could have been the late set at Penguin’s Comedy Club. 

When an attorney said marriage was for procreation, an indignant “Ha!” came up from the crowd.

When a Supreme Court justice asked a question, laughter erupted.

When a lawyer argued that any two adults in Iowa should be allowed to marry, silence fell.

More than 50 people packed a meeting room at the Iowa City Public Library to watch the oral arguments over gay marriage.

“If you read our constitution, there is literally no other way to read this,” Janelle Rettig, a local gay activist, told the crowd. Many of those gathered at the library said more tears than laughs have lined the road to Tuesday’s oral arguments.

“What happened in California can happen here,” Rettig said, referring to the November passage of Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage in that state. “Our work is not done, you will need to continue to stand up and demand to be equal.”

Kirsten Plowman, a construction worker and Kirkwood Community College student, said she would have driven to Des Moines Tuesday, but felt there was no way she’d be allowed into the courthouse. 

“I wanted to be seen and to be known. The state needs to know a lot of people are interested in how the decision comes out,” Plowman, a lesbian, said. She agreed that the choice for the judges should be clear: equal protection under the constitution means she can marry, too. 

“I don’t know if this is the moment, but there are steppingstones,” Rettig said.

“Tradition is just a fancy way of saying we’ve hated gay people for so long.”

Course after our wonderful example in California...they are getting on it and staying on it...as people who are truly interested in protection Marriage Equality should.

REMEMBER Tomorrow is a WHITE KNOT day...even if you do go to work...
(See whiteknot.org)

Whatever the decision, no one can say that this court showed any favorites. Their questions on both sides were equally pointed, as they should be. I think that Johnson spoke more eloquently, and answered the questions much more directly than Kuhle did. On the other hand, Kuhle was pretty evasive in many of his responses, sometimes not even answering the question that was asked. And he seemed a bit confused (befuddled) at times.