The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

02 October 2009

The Eychaner Foundation is proud to sponsor The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, a production of Stagewest and the Des Moines Playhouse.

In June 2008, members of Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie, Wyoming to explore how the town had changed in the ten years since Matthew Shepard's murder. What they found defied their expectations. The result is a new play about how we construct our own history. This is the continuing story of an American Town.

Tickets are Free. Now available in person at the Des Moines Playhouse ticket office. Limit of four per person. You must arrive by 6:45 PM on October 12 to guarantee a seat. General admission seating. Donations will be accepted for Iowa's Matthew Shepard Scholarship Program.

Iowa gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

03 April 2009

The Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage Friday in a unanimous and emphatic decision that makes Iowa the third state — and first in the nation's heartland — to allow same-sex couples to wed.

"Today, I'm surrounded by an army of good citizens, productive Iowans standing for what is right, and once more for Iowa's rightful place as one of the leading states in the United States: progressive, thoughtful, fair, just," said Rich Eychaner. 

Iowa joins only Massachusetts and Connecticut in permitting same-sex marriage. For six months last year, California's high court allowed gay marriage before voters banned it in November. 

The Iowa justices upheld a lower-court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. The county attorney who defended the law said he would not seek a rehearing. The only recourse for opponents appeared to be a constitutional amendment, which could take years to ratify. 

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective," the Supreme Court wrote.  

Introducing GLBTIowa.com

29 August 2008