Decades before Lois and Karen Gray became one of the first same-sex couples in Iowa to legally marry, they were Iowa farm girls, courting each other on the campus of Grand View College (now University) in Des Moines. In the mid-1980s, in fairly quick succession, the women became friends, then roommates, then girlfriends. This evolution […]
Community/News
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Brock About Town: Spring Break in Cedar Rapids
This past week, the University of Iowa observed that time-honored tradition known as “spring break.” You know this already, of course, either because you sort of vaguely noticed that the bars weren’t quite as hoppin’ on Friday night, or because you went splitsies with six other people on a room at the South Padre Island Motel 6.
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President Trump said wind turbines cause cancer, Gov. Reynolds said it’s ‘not my place’ to disagree with Trump
During a televised speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee, President Donald Trump made the bizarre and unfounded claim that sounds made by wind turbines cause cancer. Multiple news organizations asked the White House what evidence on which the president was relying, but the Trump administration has so far not responded. TRUMP during NRCC speech: […]
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A conversation with Kate and Trish Varnum, 10 years after Varnum v. Brien
Cedar Rapids couple Kate and Trish Varnum celebrate their 18th, 15th and 10th anniversaries this year: they’ve been together since 2001, had a religious marriage ceremony in 2004 and were legally married in 2009, after a landmark Iowa Supreme Court case that bore their name. Since the April 3, 2009 ruling in Varnum v. Brien, […]
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House built more than 150 years ago on Iowa City’s north side to be torn down
A demolition permit has been issued for the house that has stood at the corner for E Market and N Johnson Streets in Iowa City for more than 150 years. The house is still in good shape, but Mercy Iowa City, which bought the property for $240,000 in November, has no use for the structure. […]
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The BarbouRoskes, plaintiffs in Varnum v. Brien, reflect on Iowa’s fight for marriage equality
The day the Iowa Supreme Court announced they’d made a decision in Varnum v. Brien, the landmark case that would determine whether to legalize same-sex marriage in Iowa, Dawn and Jennifer BarbouRoskes’ two young daughters had covered their faces in temporary tattoos. “Jen’s at work and I’m scrubbing their faces,” Dawn recalled. “Bre had fallen […]
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How a divorce helped kick-start marriage equality in Iowa
The path to marriage equality in Iowa started with a divorce. Kimberly Brown and Jennifer Perez traveled from their home in western Iowa to Vermont in 2002 to be joined in a civil union, a substitute for traditional civic marriages Vermont created for same-sex couples in 2000.
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Art meets activism in ‘Art for Access,’ a fundraiser for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund
“Art for Access” returns to Iowa City for its fifth year on Friday. The annual poster show is a fundraiser for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund (IAAF), a Cedar Rapids-based nonprofit that assists women afford abortion-related medical services.
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Homecoming planned for Iowa women’s basketball team today after Elite Eight loss
There is no more exciting time for basketball than March Madness — even when it means all but one team in the tournament goes home on a loss. After a red-letter season, the Iowa women’s basketball team fell to Baylor in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament Monday night, 53-85. The Hawkeyes are heading […]
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A year after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Iowa City students are still marching for gun control
The marchers who braved the cold weather and biting wind early Saturday afternoon for the March for Gun Safety were almost all members of Students Against School Shootings (SASS), the group that organized it. It was a noticeable change from last year’s march. In March 2017, despite sub-freezing temperatures and several inches of freshly fallen […]
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Upcoming opportunities to hear from Holocaust survivor Celina Karp Biniaz
“Schindler’s List” survivor Celina Karp Biniaz will return to Des Moines for Memories and Melodies of Auschwitz at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on the evening of April 1st, presented by the Iowa Jewish Historical Society (IJHS) and for several following presentations of Second Chance: My Story.
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‘Letter To My Body’ brings voices from around the state to the Iowa City Public Library
“Letter To My Body,” a unique exhibit about how people perceive their physical selves will be on display at the Iowa City Public Library on Monday. “The letters highlight sexual harassment and violence, gender norms, sexism, and taught beliefs,” according to Monsoon Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, the group that organized the exhibit.
