LAWYERS GIVE HIGH MARKS TO LESBIAN-DIVORCE JUDGE: From the Des Moines Register

Iowa lawyers strongly support a northwest Iowa judge whom a group of residents want to throw out over his ruling granting a divorce to lesbians, a new survey shows.

District Judge Jeffrey Neary won 93 percent approval for a six-year term in the Iowa State Bar Association's election year poll of its members. That's among the higher approval percentages of the 74 Iowa judges up for retention in November. ...

Kevin Alons, 35, of Salix, spokesman for the Judicial Accountability Group that organized in August to unseat Neary, said he isn't impressed by the numbers. He said Neary might have opened the way to gay marriage, which Alons and members of the group oppose. ...

Neary in November approved a dissolution of a Vermont civil union for two Sioux City lesbians. He said he signed the papers without noting their gender. When he discovered they were women, he declined to withdraw the order.

He said the dissolution was proper under a legal concept that requires states to recognize laws of other states. Neary said the order did not recognize same-sex marriages, which are barred in Iowa, but settled a dispute between two parties over property distribution.

Neary followed the order with an amended ruling that said he ended only their civil union in Vermont, not a marriage.

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posted by Eve at 3:15 PM | link

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