Iowa 1st rural state to legalize same-sex marriage; most-rural Vermont the first via a legislative vote

The Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage write is significant because Iowa is a state with significant rural population (39 percent in the 2000 census), a fact not lost on several news outlets. UPDATE, April 7: Iowa's rural culture is more traditional than that of Vermont, where the legislature enacted same-sex marriage today over a gubernatorial veto.

"When it was only California and Massachusetts, it could be perceived as extremism on the coasts and not related to core American values," Brown University sociologist John Logan told The Associated Press. "But as it extends to states like Iowa, and as attitudes toward gay marriage have evidently changed, then people will look at it as an example of broad acceptance." (Read more)

Iowa's largest newspaper notes the state's status as a bellwether. "I think it’s significant, because Iowa is considered a Midwest state in the mainstream of American thought," Richard Socarides, former adviser to President Clinton on gay rights issues, told Jeff Eckhoff and Grant Schulte of The Des Moines Register. "Unlike states on the coasts, there’s nothing more American than Iowa. As they say during the presidential caucuses, 'As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.'"

But critics say the decision was not one the Iowa Supreme Court should have made. The court "stepped out of its proper role in interpreting the law," says Doug Napier, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund in Arizona. The state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act "was simple, it was settled, and overwhelmingly supported by Iowans. There was simply no legitimate reason for the court to redefine marriage." Opponents are planning to challenge the decision with a constitutional amendment, but, unlike California's speedy referendum process, any amendment to the Iowa constitution cannot occur until at least 2012. (Read more) Other articles note the expected economic benefits Iowa may see, reactions to the ruling and a profile of the judge who authored it.

UPDATE: The Vermont veto was overridden with the minumum 100 votes needed in the state House. The state is the first to enact same-sex marriage with legislation rather than court action, notes the Burlington Free Press.