We got it right when we protected escaped slaves from capture and return to the South, even though federal law gave Southern states the right to send bounty hunters to the North to reclaim slaves.
We got it right in the Civil War, when a higher percentage of our men fought for the Union cause than any other state.
We got it right in 1965, when capital punishment was outlawed here.
We got it right when we became the first state to send a young black woman to represent us in the Miss USA pageant in 1969, even though the population was 97% white.
We got it right when our Republican governor declared Iowa a haven for refugees fleeing Viet Nam after the US withdrew and spent state funds to help those people get here and settle.
Today, the Iowa Supreme Court got it right again in ruling unanimously that it violates the state constitution to deny homosexual couples the right to civil marriage. We are only the third state in the US to do so and the first in the Midwest. Amending the Iowa state constitution is very difficult, so it is highly unlikely that this decision will be overturned.
I know it's got feck all to do with Cif - but I just found out and I'm just so freaking proud of my state right now - I had to share.
