This week has contained both strides forward as well as backward for members of the LGBT community.

On Tuesday, Proposition 8, a ballot proposition in California that passed in November 2008, which stated, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” was ruled unconstitutional by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel.

On Wednesday night, Washington state lawmakers approved same sex marriage. This decision will make Washington the seventh state to allow same sex marriage. The District of Columbia also allows same sex marriage.

In Iowa, Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration stated on Monday that it would be appealing a Polk County District Court ruling. The ruling required state health officials to grant a birth certificate containing the names of both members of a same sex couple to be listed as legal parents to a 2-year-old girl.

The appeal was filed by the Iowa Department of Public Health, which deals with birth, death and marriage certificates as part of their vital records.

“[The LGBT Community] is celebrating the victory in California but not stopping there,” said Warren Blumenfeld, associate professor of curriculum and instruction at Iowa State. “We will not get our rights until we have national rights protecting LGBT members.”

Miles Brainard, freshman in pre-community and regional planning, said that he fears finding of Proposition 8 unconstitutional will not bring same sex marriage or be the end of the line. 

Brainard, a club member of the Good Sex Brigade and ISU LGBT Ally Alliance feels that the California decision is “very encouraging.”

Blumenfeld felt the California decision was a “big step forward” and believes that Proposition 8 was found unconstitutional because it “unfairly discriminates against a class of people,” which goes against the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment states, “No state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

As for the appeal from the Branstad administration, Brainard said that the administration is “picking at little things” since Iowa made same sex marriage legal.

“I think most Iowans are in favor of equal rights,” Brainard said. “There is definite progress. It’s a long time coming, and we have a long way to go … but it does ultimately go in the way of equality.”

These events take place before Iowa State is preparing to host the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference this weekend. Blumenfeld said that he believes the recent events will be topics of discussion at the conference.

“Students around the country are organizing … to push for national legislation,” Blumenfeld said.

The Branstad administration was unable to be reached for comment after multiple phone calls and messages were left.

Bob Vander Platts, president and CEO of Iowa Family Leader, an organization which fights for the sanctity of marriage and traditional families, was unavailable for comment. Chuck Hurley, vice president of the organization, was out of the state and also unavailable.