I’ve lived in Iowa since 1978. I arrived on a bus from Chicago via a train from Providence. With me I had one trunk and a typewriter. The trunk was large enough that no taxicab driver would stop to give me a ride. I finally figured it out and hid the trunk behind the electric train's iron support beam and stood there with only the typewriter. Once in Iowa City I stayed overnight in a local hotel before being picked up the next day and dropped off at temporary housing in Reno Hall. Everyone thought I talked funny. I admit to being different from Iowans in many ways. What I soon discovered about Iowans was how accepting they were and surprisingly how open-minded. People back home asked why Iowa? (Actually they asked why Idaho, or Ohio or Utah… but we won’t talk about New England’s version of geography.)

I chose Iowans as much as I chose Iowa because the people were honest and if you were willing to work hard and save you could get ahead. New England had long ago priced young people out. Iowa had not. New Englanders for all their strengths had a weakness for outsiders. Back then Iowans did not. But, after the ouster vote I’m starting to think otherwise about Iowa; which is probably why I keep writing about this subject. It pains me to see this side of Iowans, because it seems so unlike Iowa.

I'm not sure where this non-retention vote leaves us now. When it comes to how the world will view us, the vote makes us small minded and unworldly. We’ve accomplished a failing grade and our Governor-elect actually seems proud of it. Parents of gay and lesbian children were handed a setback. The new normal is back to the old prejudice. The parents of gay and lesbians get to listen to our governor rake their children over the coals while trying not to sound like he's doing just that; all for the sake of political gain. What should have been an economic gain for Iowa businesses is turning all that Iowa has to offer into something smaller than it was. How can we get our state's economic house in order when we continue to fight about things that just don't matter. Instead of extending a hand to join us in our economic struggle we are pushing good honest taxpaying people away.  

Look at Mary Chind’s Pulitzer winning photograph of the construction worker Jason Oglesbee risking his life to save a drowning woman. The boat having been sucked into the raging dam current, Oglesbee chained himself to a crane and had the crane operator lower him with an outstretched and welcoming hand to the drowning woman. Oglesbee saved a drowning woman that day. That photograph is the Iowa I grew to love and the reason why I chose Iowa as my home.

With the no-vote on retention Iowans throws those would-be taxpayers wanting to be married, but who are of the same-sex, a cold shoulder rather than a life preserver.

Mary Culver was being diplomatic when she said this vote is a “stain on the history of our state.” Nationally we’ve gone from hero to heel. Because for every person getting off the bus and landing in Iowa City, Iowans have not extended their hand of friendship welcoming them to what is a great place to live.

Is this the picture we want of Iowa? If so, I’m living in the wrong place.

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