Gasoline On The Fire

Polk County, Iowa, is the county in which Des Moines, Iowa's largest city, sits. A judge in Polk County has ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages violates the state Constitution's equal protections clause. The ruling is sure to be appealed to Iowa's Supreme Court.

It's the same fight same-sex marriage advocates have seen in courts elsewhere. Difference is, it's in an early primary state in an election year. Immediately after Republicans have had to deal with another gay scandal within their ranks.

UPDATE (8/31/07): Predictably, the county clerk issued a few marriage licenses, and was then ordered to stop after the lower-court ruling was stayed. You can read the entire opinion of the trial court here (unless you're a civil procedure junkie, you should skip ahead to page 43).