Iowa Supreme Court to Hear Oral Argument Friday in Lesbian Civil Union Dissolution Case
Lambda Legal
What: Oral arguments in Alons et al v. Iowa District Court for Woodbury County.
When: Friday, January 14, at 9 a.m.
Where: Iowa Supreme Court, 1111 East Court Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa.
[Observers and supporters are welcome, but please no protesting and no signs.]
We will
urge the court to recognize that disapproval of gay couples doesn't
give these groups or individuals the right to interfere in other
people's personal lives.
(Des Moines, January 11, 2005)
— In oral argument set for Friday, January 14, at 9 a.m. at the Iowa
Supreme Court, Lambda Legal and local organizations will fend off an
attack by antigay groups who seek to overturn a local court order
granting two Sioux City women's request to terminate their civil union.
“We will
urge the court to recognize that disapproval of gay couples doesn't
give these groups or individuals the right to interfere in other
people's personal lives,” said Camilla Taylor, Staff Attorney in Lambda
Legal's Midwest Regional Office, who will argue the case on Friday.
“A judge
in his rightful authority has already addressed this matter. Iowa
judges regularly resolve a wide range of matters between couples who
live together, regardless of the status of their relationship or
whether they're married. A handful of legislators and others have
tried to insinuate themselves into this particular case because this
time it involves two lesbians.”
The two
women filed papers to dissolve their civil union in August of 2003. The
judge in their case noted that he was simply resolving a legal matter
between a couple as the state's courts routinely do.
In
February of 2004, a group of state legislators, a congressman and a
northwest Iowa church filed a petition to be heard by the Iowa State
Supreme Court. They filed a lawsuit asserting that the judge, Jeffrey
Neary in the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, lacked authority
to declare the rights of the two women and terminate their civil union,
and they asked the state high court to hear their case.
Lambda
Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief last June, signed by the Iowa
Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Community Center of Central Iowa, that urged the court to
throw the case out. The brief argued that none of the parties involved
in the challenge have legal standing to interfere in the case because
they aren't harmed in any way by Judge Neary's decision. The brief also
pointed out that Iowa law permits a court to terminate a civil union,
so that the members of the couple can move on with their lives with
certainty about their legal rights, plan financially and start new
families.
Friday's
oral argument will focus on whether these anti-gay groups and inviduals
have the right to interfere with the trial court's authority to provide
necessary relief to this lesbian couple. In November, Iowans voted to retain Judge Neary, despite aggressive efforts by antigay groups to unseat him.
Lambda
Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full
recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals,
transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation,
education, and public policy work.
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