Iowa City No. 4 in same-sex homes
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Iowa City ranks fourth nationally in having the highest concentration of same-sex coupled households in cities with less than 200,000 people, according to The Gay and Lesbian Atlas to be released next month.
What this means for Iowa City, demographer Gary Gates says, is acceptance. “It also broadly suggests that college towns in general seem to be more accepting,” said Gates, 42.
The Gay and Lesbian Atlas focuses on same-sex 2000 U.S. Census data. The book, co-authored by Gates and Jason Ost, is scheduled to come out May 31.
Senate passes marital counseling bill
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier
DES MOINES (AP) — Couples would have to undergo 12 hours of premarital counseling or wait longer for a marriage license under a bill approved Tuesday by the Iowa Senate and sent to the governor.
The bill, approved 33-14, would set a waiting period of three days with counseling and 20 days without it. It also requires couples to file a parenting plan if they divorce or separate.
The bill, passed earlier by the House, was stripped down from an earlier Senate version that would have allowed couples to enter into a “covenant marriage,” which would have made divorce more difficult.
The bill's supporters say the legislation is a way to help strengthen marriages and slow the divorce trend that they say hurts children.
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