Iowans need to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Voting is the only way to end the arguing that has engulfed Iowa since the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously on April 27 that it is illegal to discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them the right to marry.

Personally, I’d like to see this issue on a statewide ballot because I am convinced the majority of Iowans don’t waste much time worrying about what happens in their neighbors’ bedrooms. If an election could be held today, I think most Iowans would – and should – approve of treating the state’s gay residents the same as everyone else.

I say this knowing that many Iowans, some whom I regard as friends, object to same-sex marriage for religious reasons. They are sincere and I respect their beliefs even though some of them will condemn what I have just said. Some will even call me names that aren’t particularly Christian.

In the past week, I have heard from some Muscatine Journal readers, who, though small in number, have been especially vitriolic in voicing their opposition to gay marriage. They hurl slurs, shout and even blather about bestiality or pedophilia being legalized now that gays can marry in Iowa.

That sort of talk will likely strike many of you as nonsense. But I’ve heard all of it and more since May 22, when the Journal published a front-page story about Stephanie and LeLani Coronado of Wilton. On May 15, they became the first lesbian couple to marry in Muscatine County.

Since their story was published, the Journal has printed a few letters to the editor about gay marriage – divided evenly among supporters and critics.  Many more comments have been posted by readers at www.muscatinejournal.com.

This week, some of those commenters accused the Journal of, among other things, discriminating against heterosexual couples. One reader made this point in an e-mail, saying the newspaper had not written stories about her son or daughter when they got married.

Another reader said: “No one else who gets married in town gets to have their wedding pictures on the front page. If they want to put in an announcement for either an engagement or a marriage that would be fine. They shouldn’t get special attention just because they are a gay couple.”

As I told this reader, the Coronados didn’t get special treatment because they are gay. Their wedding was newsworthy because it was the first gay marriage in Muscatine County. Ever.

The second, third, fourth or 100th gay couples to get married in Muscatine County aren’t likely to get the same kind of coverage unless there is something about their ceremonies that makes them different.  That’s how the Journal and many other news organizations have typically always covered weddings.

It’s wrong to say no one else gets to have a story or their photo in the newspaper when they get married. To cite just three examples:

n Cheryl Calvert and Jeff Kress were featured in a Journal story prior to their wedding on July 5, 2003, at West Liberty Raceway.

n Larry Anakin of Muscatine and Patty Beckhart of Rock Island, Ill., were featured in another Journal story when they got married at 7 p.m. on July 7, 2007.

n Matt Ritter and Kim Hewitt were featured in the Journal when they got married on March 29, 2008, at the Grand View Drive-In theater.

All of these couples, including the Coronados, have something in common: There was something about their weddings that was different or interesting. It made them newsworthy.

As a reporter-turned-editor, these are stories you don’t forget. The most-memorable wedding story so far during my career was written several years ago by a colleague at the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska. It was about two pregnant sisters who were walked down the aisle barefoot by their shotgun-toting dad in a joint ceremony.

I think of that wedding whenever someone says legalizing same-sex couples will destroy the sanctity of marriage. The world didn’t end when two pregnant sisters poked fun at a stereotype with a wedding ceremony that was anything but sanctimonious.

And it won’t end now just because gay couples can marry in Iowa.

To those of you who disagree, attack me if you want. I say let’s put the issue up for a vote and settle the debate for good.

Reach Editor Chris Steinbach at chris.steinbach@muscatinejournal.com                     or 563-262-0535.