The Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success and the LGBTQA+ Faculty Staff Association will be hosting a joint celebration in honor of 10 years of marriage equality from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success. The Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success is now located in the Memorial Union.

According to the Facebook page for the event, it will be a spin on a wedding reception, including cake.

“Marriage equality isn’t the most salient issue for the all of the community so we just want to get together and celebrate love and all the great things that have happened at Iowa State in the last decade,” said nicci port, project director for LGBTQ+ initiatives for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

2019 will be the 10th year since gay marriage was legalized in Iowa. The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday, April 3, 2009, in the case Varnum v. Brien, that prohibiting gay and lesbian couples from marrying is unconstitutional.

Varnum v. Brien was a civil rights lawsuit by twelve individuals who reside in six communities across Iowa. The twelve plaintiffs comprised six same-sex couples who live in committed relationships.

The six same-sex couples in the litigation asked the Polk County Recorder to issue marriage licenses to them. The recorder, following the law at the time, refused to issue the licenses, and the six couples were unable to be married in Iowa. Except for the statutory restriction that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the twelve plaintiffs met the legal requirements to marry in Iowa.

Much of the testimony presented by the county was in the form of opinions by various individuals that same-sex marriage would harm the institution of marriage and also harm children raised in same-sex marriages.

The couples produced evidence to demonstrate sexual orientation and gender have no effect on children raised by same-sex couples, and same-sex couples can raise children as well as opposite-sex couples. They also submitted evidence to show that most scientific research has refuted the commonly assumed notion that children need opposite-sex parents or biological parents to grow into well-adjusted adults.

The district court concluded the statute was unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Iowa Constitution and granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs.

“Even though marriage isn’t the most salient thing for everyone in our community, it was a big deal for Iowa to step forward and unanimously say that equal marriage is how Iowa is going to operate,” port said.

The event is cohosted by the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success and the LGBTQA+ Faculty Staff Association. According to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website, “The LGBTQA+ Faculty & Staff Association was created for Iowa State University faculty and staff who are members of or who are supportive of the LGBTQ+ community at ISU.”

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