Why Iowa legalized equality.

[Cynus]

" [What is your best supporting argument against Equality, that does not include religion?]

The supreme court of Iowa asked exactly the same question in a high-profile civil rights case:

http://www.iowacourts.gov/wfData/files/Varnum/07-1499(1).pdf

They got these five replies, which presumably are the best that a large, well-funded legal effort could muster:

Tradition is important, and banning gay marriage maintains tradition. The court rejected this as circular reasoning, rather than an actual reason, and noted that it applies equally well to, say, interracial marriage.

Children are important, and banning gay marriage promotes an optimal environment for raising them. Now, this one is not quite as trivial as the previous one, since taking care of children is actually a valid objective. However, the evidence is pretty clear that there's not a significant difference in outcomes in child-rearing, and even though some amount of uncertainty always remains, it's dangerous to ban things based on vague suspicions. And then, of course, there are plenty of other groups of people who you might want to ban from marrying on this criterion: sex offenders, say, or people who'd been convicted of violent crimes. And what the hell is up with banning gay marriage rather than gay parenthood? The court concluded that this argument is obviously not the real reason, but just some after-the-fact bullshit rationalization.

Banning gay marriage will raise birth rates somehow. Babies babies babies. The court rejected this argument as making not a lick of sense. "The briefs, the record, our research, and common sense do not suggest such an outcome." They quickly move on to the next argument:
Banning gay marriage will promote the stability of straight marriages. Rejected for being, as far as the court could tell, completely unsupported by any kind of evidence.

Marriage costs the government money, so banning gay marriage is thrifty. This argument applies equally well to banning marriage among any group of people. New rule: you can't get married if you're left-handed.

The court ruled unanimously that there was no rational reason for banning gay marriage -- in fact, they seemed kind of embarrassed at the poor excuses for arguments listed above -- and Iowa has allowed gay marriage ever since."

[Addym Kehris]

You simply gotta love the Supreme Court of Iowa. What a unique way to knock down the spurious arguments.