UNITED STATES
Iowa
Higher Law. Iowa is bound by the United States Constitution, federal law, and the international obligations of the United States.
Section 2 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act purportedly authorizes the state to disregard any “relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of [another] State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship. 28 U.S.C. § 1738C. The constitutionality of that provision is disputed.
Supreme State Law. Iowa’s constitution does not expressly address same-sex unions, but it contains substantive and procedural guarantees that might regulate the state’s internal family law as well as its conflicts law. Indeed, in Varnum v. Brien, CV5965 (Iowa Dist. Ct. Aug. 30, 2007), a state trial has held unconstitutional the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage under Iowa’s internal law. The decision is on appeal. (See Lambda Legal’s Varnum page.)
Internal Family Law.
Marriage. Iowa has expressly prohibited same-sex marriages since 1998, Iowa Code Ann. § 595.2(1) (“Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.”), but a state trial court has invalidated that restriction as unconstitutional. (See the discussion of Varnum, supra.)
Civil unions and domestic partnerships. Iowa neither provides for nor expressly prohibits civil unions or domestic partnerships.
Conflicts Law.
Recognition of Foreign Same-Sex Unions.
- Marriages. Iowa law implicitly prohibits recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. It expressly validates out-of-state opposite-sex marriages. Iowa Code Ann. § 595.20 (“A marriage which is solemnized in any other state, territory, country, or any foreign jurisdiction which is valid in that state, territory, country, or other foreign jurisdiction, is valid in this state if the parties meet the requirements for validity pursuant to section 595.2, subection 1, and if the marriage would not otherwise be declared void.”). Although this provision does not expressly prohibit recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages, it may support a negative inference to that effect given the circumstances of the provision’s 1998 enactment alongside section 595.2(1), supra. Section 595.2(1) does not iteslf prohibit recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages even though it declares that “[o]nly a marriage between a male and a female is valid.” The rest of the section makes clear that it regulates only the formalization of marriages in Iowa, not recognition of out-of-state marriages. Absent a negative inference from section 595.20, Iowa might apply its ordinary conflicts rule, which determines the validity of a marriage according to the law of either the place of celebration or the place having the most significant relationship to the parties or the marriage. In re Marriage of Reed, 226 N.W. 2d 795 (Iowa 1975) (common-law marriage); Boehm v. Rohlfs, 224 Iowa 226, 276 N.W. 105 (Iowa 1937) (underage marriage); Restatement (Second) of the Conflict of Laws § 283 (1971).
- Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships. Iowa law does not expressly address the recognition of foreign civil unions or domestic partnerships. Recognition present a question of Iowa common law conflict of laws. In Brown v. Perez, an Iowa trial court also used its equitable powers to dissolve a Vermont civil union.
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