SIOUX CITY, Iowa, December 12, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Iowa judge who claimed that he did not know the married “couple” were of the same sex, has approved their divorce. Iowa does not recognize same-sex “marriage,” nor does it recognize so-called civil unions, yet Judge Jeffrey Neary granted the divorce to a “couple” who were both lesbian and united in a civil union last year in Vermont.
State Senator Neal Schuerer, R-Amana, accused Neary of “judicial activism at its worst. The judge was wrong. He should have backed away and sent them back to Vermont,” Schuerer said. “If judges want to flaunt the law like this, I can guarantee you we will move to recall them.”
University of Iowa law professor Ann Estin said “You can go to Vermont and have a civil union, but you can’t, until now, go to another state and have a civil union divorce.” Both Texas and Connecticut judges have rejected similar requests for civil union divorces in the past, Estin said. Iowa is one of 37 states with laws that ban same-sex marriages.
Read Las Vegas Sun coverage at: https://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2003/dec/12/121204298.html