The lavender light shines on Iowa once again this week. GOP lawmakers recently failed in their mission to reinforce the state's marriage laws, which explicitly define nuptials as between one man and one woman. Now, on the heels of that defeat, Lambda Legal has filed seventeen briefs in an effort to bolster Judge Robert Hanson's 2007 ruling: restrictive nuptial definitions are unconstitutional. Hanson subsequently became a gay hero when he started issueing marriage licenses, which were later invalidated.

The Lambda kids aren't the only ones fighting for the gay rights. Former Lieutenant Governors Joy Corning and Sally Pederson released a joint statement supporting their queer comrades:

We are proud of Iowa's long history in ensuring fairness and equality for all Iowans. We signed our names to a brief submitted to the Court because we believe that the Court is the proper place to decide this matter. We have a keen understanding of the different roles the courts and legislature play in leading our state and treating all Iowans with fairness.

Pediatricians, lawyers and religious leaders also joined the battle, which will no doubt be a total rager.

Iowa's Republican party failed in its unholy mission to ban gay marriage yesterday:

House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, sought a vote on the measure, which has failed to gain approval in a House committee this year.

Rants tried a procedural vote that would have moved the measure, House Joint Resolution 8, out of committee and before the full House for a possible debate.

Rants’ maneuver failed on a 46-50 vote, with majority Democrats defeating it.

Rants said he was disappointed some Democrats, seven by his count, who have supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the past did not vote along with him this time.

“If those seven had voted with us, it would have passed, but I guess they will have to explain to their constituents why they flip-flopped on this issue."

Rants spearheaded the issue when he pushed it from committee yesterday, so a double "Ha!" to him.

Civil unions are all the rage in Iowa! Among The Des Moines Register's random readers, at least. Gay marriage, meanwhile, remains the ugly step-institution:

Sixty-two percent of Iowans believe marriage should be only between a man and a woman, according to the poll by The Des Moines Register. Thirty-two percent believe same-sex marriages should be allowed, while 6 percent were unsure.

Iowans are split, however, on whether the state constitution should be changed to ban gay marriages.

And more than half of Iowans who responded to the poll support Iowa allowing civil unions for same-sex couples. About four in 10 Iowans oppose civil unions, and 4 percent are unsure.

The Iowa Poll of 801 adults was taken Feb. 17-20. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The poll also finds that 48% of Iowans want to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage. Forty-seven percent, meanwhile, are opposed. Five percent simply can't make up their minds.

Iowa's social conservatives - who overwhelming supported Mike Huckabee during their presidential primaries - will take to the streets to protest gay marriage today.

The issue gained attention last summer when a Polk County judge ruled Iowa's marriage law is unconstitutional. The decision has been appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. One of the rally's organizers is Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center.

He wants the Legislature to debate soon. He says waiting is unfair to Iowans because it delays the start of a lengthy process to amend the Iowa Constitution. The rally is set for 11:30 a.m. on the west steps on the Capitol.

Too bad we can't make it.

And so it begins… Democratic presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Joe Biden apparently can't take the campaign heat:

Two Senate veterans — Democrats Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut — are abandoning their presidential campaigns after very poor showings Thursday night in the Iowa caucuses.

Neither mustered more than 1 percent in the intensely competitive contest won by freshman Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

We anticipate similar headlines after next week's New Hampshire's primary.

Have you ever seen a more perfectly mismatched couple?

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Iowa's absolutely abuzz with caucus activity today. As politically motivated citizens prepare to choose their leaders, HRC's Rachel Balick and Charlie Mumford are blogging all about it - and they're not alone in their adventures. The duo joined forces with One Iowa activist James Taylor and proceeded to stalk the Clinton family:

Charlie and I were determined to get a picture of Bill holding our HRC/One Iowa t-shirt, and we fought hard through the dense crowd to get to him. Sadly, we were no match for the crowd and he got away from us. However, we were physically very close to him, which was very exciting since we earlier discussed how he was the only Democratic luminary neither of us had never seen in person. James Taylor managed to get a picture with Hillary—sans t-shirt, unfortunately—but we did score a picture with Chelsea Clinton with the shirt.

The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld also traveled to Iowa, where she's keeping an eye on polls and talking to local politicos, like Obama supporter Christopher Diebel.

• Fantastics Mag celebrates the boys who blow smoke.

• Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth sits down with HX's Brandon Voss.

• Democrats in close Iowa race.

• Mollygood editor Cord Jefferson doesn't like the suburbs. We have a feeling the suburbs probably don't like him, as well.

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• Awesome: "One of my best friends is a straight girl. She's convinced I want to lick her pussy."

• Homo-politico and Elizabeth Dole nemesis Jim Neal joins The Bilerico Project.

• Is married socialite Fabian Basabe making moves on male bartenders in front of his wife?

CONTINUED »

Our editor spent his dreary, obviously solitary weekend dreaming of Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. He then turned his fantasies into an audio piece for XM radio's P.O.T.U.S.

We've included some statistically updated text after the jump. Audio will follow shortly.

CONTINUED »

The sweet-faced and anti-gay Mike Huckabee seems to be gaining ground in Iowa. The NY Times reports that the Republican presidential candidate may give his competition a run for their money:

Among Republican caucusgoers, 27 percent said they would support Mr. Romney, while 21 percent said they would support Mr. Huckabee and 15 percent said they would support Mr. Giuliani. But two-thirds of Mr. Romney’s backers said they could change their mind, a strikingly large number; by contrast, half of Mr. Huckabee’s supporters said they could change their mind. And nearly every one of Mr. Huckabee’s poll measures in Iowa, where he has focused most of his resources, was encouraging: 50 percent of respondents had a favorable view of him, compared with 7 percent who said they viewed him unfavorably.

The Times and their surveys also conclude that the GOP has been struggling to balance ideology and pragmatism. To this we have one word: good.

While we sort of have a crush on Huckabee, we can't stand his homophobic politics and archaic sense of "value," which he summed up at the Value Voters summit: "The new value needs to be the old value."

He apparently doesn't know that we're living in a startlingly complex new era.

When the Religious Right teams up with the Holier-Than-Thous, you know trouble's afoot.

Today 365Gay reports that Iowa's conservative clans have called a quorum to begin calling for an amendment banning gay unions state-wide. Not content with the stay halting gay unions following a landmark lower-court ruling declaring the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act denying same-sex unions to be unconstitutional, on Sunday "about 1200 people from conservative Protestant churches across Des Moines held a prayer rally outside Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church demanding lawmakers act."

No word as of yet from lawmakers–nor, for that matter, any of the Presidential hopefuls. Look for that to change by the time the state's upcoming primary rolls around January 3

"Religious Conservatives Demand Iowa Amendment to Block Gay Marriage" [365Gay.com]

Republican Sam Brownback may be backing out of the presidential race. The Kansas senator, who calls gay marriage a "social experiment", says his campaign's relying on Iowa to decide his fate:

…Brownback said Wednesday he will drop out of the race for president if he finishes lower than fourth place in the Iowa caucuses.
…
In response to a questioner who asked whether Brownback planned to end his bid if he places outside the top four contenders, Brownback said, "That is correct. I need to finish in that group to move on forward."

Recent polls show that only two percent of Iowans are voting for Brownback, so he'd might as well just quit now.