What Iowa Means

A lot is being written about the effects of the Iowa equal marriage decision, and I've been reading a lot of them (trust). This is my most favorite, from the Huffington Post:

Iowans, it turns out, have a strong moral fiber and, apparently, enough balls to be the tide turner. Just because they're not donating money to the Human Rights Campaign or picketing the Latter-Day Saints or even hosting large gay pride parades (of course, there are Iowans who do all these things), that doesn't mean, by any means, that they don't have an opinion about the matter or that they don't have a loved one who's gay or lesbian. Indeed, if today showed anything, it was that New Yorkers and Californians value political progressiveness, and Iowans value family even more...

I think it's asinine to claim that Iowa is any more American than New York or California, where gay marriage initiatives haves suffered serious setbacks, but there's indeed something to be said to all those metropolitan gays, lesbians, and allies who are looking at Iowa in surprise today, who have scoffed at and condescended to the Midwest.

I'm just saying.