What happens when Iowans discover that gay marriage is legal? Jess Brownell provides some clues in the classic Iowa movie “State Fair”
By Jess Brownell
Iowa is in the news just now, and for a reason I must confess I would never have anticipated: Gay marriage turns out to be legal there. Who’d have thought it.? Not many Iowans, I’d venture.
I know a little about the state. I was born in Iowa, and grew up a few miles to the west in Nebraska. I had cousins living on Iowa farms whom I visited. (My host on this blog was born and raised in Iowa, and I imagine has his opinions on what’s happening in the Hawkeye State.) Frankly, I have no idea what to expect now.
Generally, Iowa hits the public eye only when the caucuses gather every fourth year, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t weird all the time. Iowans seem to be of two minds about almost everything, this tension being best represented by the two senators they have chosen to send to Washington. One, Tom Harkin, the Democrat, is a stalwart liberal (except where agricultural subsidies to factory farmers are concerned); the other, Charles Grassley, the Republican, is a fierce fiscal conservative (except of course where agricultural subsidies are concerned) who is still remembered for his objection to an eternal flame at JFK’s grave because of the unfair burden keeping it lit would place on the American taxpayer. I suppose you could say that like all of us Iowans have a lively sense of self-interest, but they do seem to have a hard time making up their minds about anything else.