Iowa Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Civil rights=== In a 2020 study, Iowa was ranked as the 24th easiest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=15 Dec 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free }}</ref> ====Racial equality==== [[File:UnionBlockMtPleasant15.jpg|thumb|The [[Union Block (Mount Pleasant, Iowa)|Union Block]] building, [[Mount Pleasant, Iowa|Mount Pleasant]], scene of early civil rights and women's rights activities]] In the 19th century Iowa was among the earliest states to enact prohibitions against race discrimination, especially in education, but was slow to achieve full integration in the 20th century. In the first decision of the [[Iowa Supreme Court]]—''In Re the Matter of Ralph'',<ref>1 Morris 1 (Iowa 1839)</ref> decided July 1839—the Court rejected slavery in a decision that found a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War.<ref name="civil rights">{{cite web|url=http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Public_Information/Iowa_Courts_History/Civil_Rights/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060505082508/http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Public_Information/Iowa_Courts_History/Civil_Rights/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 5, 2006 |title=Early Civil Rights Cases |publisher=Judicial.state.ia.us |access-date=July 26, 2010 }}</ref> The state did away with racial barriers to marriage in 1851, more than 100 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would ban [[Anti-miscegenation laws|miscegenation statutes]] nationwide.<ref name="ChicagoTrib">[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-defending-iowa-web,0,2979128.story Gay marriage and Iowa: Why's everyone so surprised?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429060425/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-defending-iowa-web,0,2979128.story |date=April 29, 2009 }}, [[Chicago Tribune]], April 10, 2009</ref> The Iowa Supreme Court decided ''Clark v. The board of directors''<ref>24 Iowa 266 (1868)</ref> in 1868, ruling that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.<ref name="civil rights" /> By 1875, a number of additional court rulings effectively ended segregation in Iowa schools.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Brodnax|first=David|year=2004|title=The Equality of Right: Alexander Clark and the Desegregation of Iowa's Public Schools, 1834–1875|journal=Law and Society Association|url=http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/4/2/p117420_index.html|access-date=July 22, 2009|archive-date=July 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090721103524/http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/4/2/p117420_index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Social and housing discrimination continued against Blacks at state universities until the 1950s.<ref>Breaux, Richard M. (2004) "Maintaining a Home for Girls": The Iowa Federation of Colored Women's Clubs at the University of Iowa 1919–1950, ''Cultural Capital and Black Education'' ed. V.P. Franklin and C.J. Savage. Information Age, Greenwich</ref> The Court heard ''Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co.''<ref>37 Iowa 145 (1873)</ref> in 1873, ruling against racial discrimination in public accommodations 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.<ref name="civil rights" /> In 1884, the Iowa Civil Rights Act apparently outlawed discrimination by businesses, reading: "All persons within this state shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, restaurants, chophouses, eating houses, lunch counters, and all other places where refreshments are served, public conveyances, barber shops, bathhouses, theaters, and all other places of amusement." However, the courts chose to narrowly apply this act, allowing de facto discrimination to continue.<ref>Iowa Civil Rights Commission, [http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/annual66activities.html Iowa.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603100106/http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/annual66activities.html |date=June 3, 2010 }}</ref> Racial discrimination at public businesses was not deemed illegal until 1949, when the court ruled in ''[[State of Iowa v. Katz]]'' that businesses had to serve customers regardless of race; the case began when [[Edna Griffin]] was denied service at a Des Moines drugstore.<ref>African-Americans in Iowa, 1838–2005, [http://www.iptv.org/IowaPathways/myPath.cfm?ounid=ob_000238 IPTV.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506232420/http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000238 |date=May 6, 2009 }}</ref> Full racial civil rights were codified under the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965.<ref>Iowa Civil Rights Commission, [http://www.state.ia.us/government/crc/publications/brochures/english_brochure.html State.ia.us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720010217/http://www.state.ia.us/government/crc/publications/brochures/english_brochure.html |date=July 20, 2009 }}</ref> ====Women's rights==== As with racial equality, Iowa was a vanguard in women's rights in the mid-19th century, but did not allow women the right to vote until the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] was ratified in 1920, Iowa legislature being one of the ratifying votes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/iowa-and-the-19th-amendment.htm|title=Iowa and the 19th Amendment (U.S. National Park Service)|website=Nps.gov|access-date=January 21, 2020|archive-date=July 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704043145/https://www.nps.gov/articles/iowa-and-the-19th-amendment.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1847, the [[University of Iowa]] became the first public university in the U.S. to admit men and women on an equal basis.<ref>About Iowa, [http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/about-UI/index.html Uiowa.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119042543/http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/about-UI/index.html |date=November 19, 2012 }}</ref> In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law, with the Court ruling women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admitting [[Arabella A. Mansfield]] to the practice of law.<ref name="civil rights" /> Several attempts to grant full voting rights to Iowa women were defeated between 1870 and 1919. In 1894 women were given "partial suffrage", which allowed them to vote on issues, but not for candidates. It was not until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment that women had full suffrage in Iowa.<ref>The Fight for Women's Suffrage, [http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/myPath.cfm?ounid=ob_000320 IPTV.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615233319/http://iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000320 |date=June 15, 2010 }}</ref> Although Iowa supported the Federal [[Equal Rights Amendment]], in 1980 and 1992 Iowa voters rejected an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution.<ref>How Did Iowa Coalitions Campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1980 and 1992?, [http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/iowaera/intro.htm alexanderstreet.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918125012/http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/iowaera/intro.htm |date=September 18, 2009 }}</ref> Iowa added the word "women" to the Iowa Constitution in 1998. After the amendment, it reads: "All men and women are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights—among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness."<ref>[http://search.legis.state.ia.us/NXT/gateway.dll/ic/1/2/11?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm).0$q=$uq=1$x=$up=1 1857 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA—CODIFIED] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209200037/http://search.legis.state.ia.us/NXT/gateway.dll/ic/1/2/11?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm).0$q=$uq=1$x=$up=1 |date=February 9, 2014 }}. Search.legis.state.ia.us (July 4, 1973). Retrieved on July 12, 2013.</ref> In May 2018 Iowa signed into law one of the country's most restrictive abortion bans: the requirement that a doctor cannot perform an abortion if they can detect a fetal heartbeat, which in many cases would restrict abortions pregnancies less than six weeks old.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/04/abortion-ban-law-iowa-fetal-heartbeat/577443002/|title=The nation's strictest abortion ban is now law. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs 'fetal heartbeat' bill|last1=Pfannenstiel|first1=Brianne|last2=Petroski|first2=William|website=Des Moines Register|access-date=January 21, 2020}}</ref> It was struck down in January 2019, when an Iowa state judge ruled that the "fetal heartbeat" law was unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/us/iowa-fetal-heartbeat-abortion-unconstitutional/index.html|title=Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' abortion restriction declared unconstitutional|first1=Eric|last1=Levenson|first2=Marlena|last2=Baldacci|website=CNN|date=January 23, 2019|access-date=January 23, 2019|archive-date=January 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123170538/https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/us/iowa-fetal-heartbeat-abortion-unconstitutional/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ====LGBT rights==== {{Main|LGBT rights in Iowa}} The state's law criminalizing same-sex sexual activity was repealed in June 1976, 27 years before ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]''. In 2007, the Iowa Legislature added "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the protected classes listed in the Iowa Civil Rights Act.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://icrc.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2016/2016.sogi_.pa1_.pdf|title=Iowa Civil Rights Act—Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity|date=2016|website=State of Iowa|access-date=June 25, 2019|archive-date=July 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712232939/https://icrc.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2016/2016.sogi_.pa1_.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court decided ''[[Varnum v. Brien]]'',<ref>WL 874044 (Iowa 2009) (Publication to N.W.2d pending as of April 9, 2009.)</ref> holding in a [[unanimous]] decision,<ref>{{cite web |last=Martyn |first=Chase |url=http://iowaindependent.com/13495/iowa-supreme-court-same-sex-couples-can-marry-in-iowa |title=Iowa Supreme Court: Same-sex couples can marry " Iowa Independent |publisher=Iowaindependent.com |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=July 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411165337/http://iowaindependent.com/13495/iowa-supreme-court-same-sex-couples-can-marry-in-iowa |archive-date=April 11, 2009 }}</ref> the state's law forbidding [[same-sex marriage]] was [[unconstitutional]]. This made Iowa the third state in the U.S. and first in the Midwest to permit same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hrcbackstory.org/2009/04/breaking-iowa-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-marriage-equality |title=BREAKING: Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality! " Human Rights Campaign |publisher=HRC Back Story |date=April 3, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2010 |archive-date=May 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502132204/http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2009/04/breaking-iowa-supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-marriage-equality/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/04/iowa-court-upholds-gay-marriage.html |title=USA Today, Iowa Court Upholds Gay Marriage |work=USA Today |date=January 7, 2010 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406071701/http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/04/iowa-court-upholds-gay-marriage.html |archive-date=April 6, 2009 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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