Posted Friday April 3, 2009 -- 4:20pm
By Zac Schultz

Madison: The Iowa Supreme Court has struck down a law banning gay marriage in that state.

The most immediate impact is same-sex couples from Wisconsin can now drive just a few hours to get married, but back at home things haven't changed; their marrage still won't be recognized.

Gay marriage supporters are applauding the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling.

"What Iowa did is certainly a strong stance for equality and I commend them for that," says Rep. Mark Pocan, (D-Madison), an openly gay member of the Wisconsin Assembly.

"I think it's a big victory," says Glenn Carlson, Executive Director of Fair Wisconsin. "The fact that it's in Iowa, and not California or Vermont or Massachusetts I think is going to bring a lot of attention to it."

But everyone agrees the same thing is not likely to happen here in Wisconsin. "The kind of challenge that we saw in Iowa just wouldn't succeed here in Wisconsin," says Carlson.

"Here in Wisconsin, it would be very difficult to reverse what had been done through a constitutional amendment," says Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau), one of the leading opponents of gay marriage.

In 2006, Wisconsin residents approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, civil unions and anything substantially similar.

Iowa only had a state statute, and the court ruled it violated the Iowa constitution's equal protection clause.

Before 2006, Wisconsin had a marriage law similar to Iowa's. Sen. Fitzgerald says if they hadn't passed the amendment the Wisconsin Supreme Court might have already struck down that law, making gay marriage legal here. "Anything the legislature could have done through statute probably wouldn't have withstood a lot of the challenges you might have seen in court."

Supporters do have something to cheer in Wisconsin. Governor Doyle's budget will create a domestic partner registry, giving unmarried couples a long list of legal protections. "Hopefully at least in this budget we can address some protections and try to move a little bit forward, even though Iowa's really gone a strong step forward," says Rep. Pocan.

There are two direct consequences of the Iowa ruling: County clerks in Iowa will start handing out marriage licenses to same-sex couples by the end of the month; and it's likely a movement will gain momentum for Iowa to pass their own constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.