What Happened in Iowa

On November 2, the marriage equality movement suffered a blow. Well-funded antigay groups succeeded in ousting from office three well-respected Iowa Supreme Court justices who were up for what should have been routine retention elections.These groups targeted the justices because they had joined in a 2009 unanimous opinion in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit, Varnum v. Brien, which struck down Iowa’s marriage ban and ordered marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples.