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Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples Online from 1995-2022 Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership. In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade. In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur. Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners. Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship. Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer. |
Judge Robert B. Hanson, of the Iowa District Court for Polk County, issued a finding for Varnum v. Brien, on August 30, 2007. In it was the demand that the state stop the unconstitutional discrimination against same-sex couples, and allow them to obtain a marriage license. Varnum v. Brien was opened on December 13, 2007. Attorneys in case were Camilla Taylor, Kenneth D. Upton, Jr. from Lambda Legal, and co-counsel/cooperating attorneys were Dennis Johnson of Dorsey and Whitney in Des Moines, Iowa. On the behalf of six same-sex couples who sought to marry in Iowa, the lawsuit argued that, under the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Iowa Constitution, it is unlawful to bar same-sex couples from marrying. The couples in this case have been together between five and more than 16 years. Three of the couples are raising children, others are planning families, and all want the responsibilities of marriage, and the protections only marriage can provide.
When this case won, on August 30, 2007, a 63-page finding was issued by the Iowa District Court for Polk County, which stated that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry based on the Iowa Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment under the law. Since the lawsuit is based on state law, the Iowa Supreme Court will have the final word on the outcome of this case.
* Click here to read the complete 63-page Iowa District Court Finding - August 30, 2007 (PDF file).
Here is the Conclusion from the 2007 Iowa District Court Finding:
For more information about the scores of U.S. suits, please see our article:
Legal Marriage Court Cases: A Timeline - U.S. court cases from 1971 to the present. |
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