From the Des Moines Register's Jason Clayworth:

Full Story and comments at the Des Moines Register

"There's a saying that we’ve now changed to read, 'Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can kill,'" said Warren Blumenfeld, an Iowa State assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and the [cyberbullying] study's lead author.

"Especially at this age, this is a time when peer influences are paramount in a young person's life. If one is ostracized and attacked, that can have devastating consequences — not only physically, but on their emotional health for the rest of their lives."

In the online survey of 444 junior high, high school and college students between the ages of 11 and 22 — including 350 self-identified non-heterosexual subjects — 54 percent of the LGBT and allied youth reported being victims of cyberbullying in the 30 days prior to the survey.

Cyberbullying includes attacks such as electronic distribution of humiliating photos, dissemination of false or private information, or targeting victims in cruel online polls.

Read the full story from LiveScience.

State Representative Chris Hagenow of Windsor Heights led the charge today seeking to exclude married gay and lesbian couples from a domestic abuse bill.

The attempt failed after Speaker of the House Pat Murphy ruled the move "non-germane" to the bill at hand and a procedural attempt to suspend the rules and bring the matter to the floor failed largely along party lines.

Shame on Representative Chris Hagenow for playing politics with the domestic abuse bill! Seeking to exclude married gay couples from equal protections is unconscionable.

CONTACT REP. HAGENOW TODAY!

Let him know we don't approve of him putting political charades ahead of protecting Iowa families!

http://eqfed.org/campaign/SHAMEFUL

More from the Register's Jason Clayworth:

Don’t define gays under domestic abuse protection, lawmaker proposes

A Windsor Heights representative unsuccessfully lobbied for the House today to adopt an amendment to a domestic abuse bill that would have defined a spouse as between one man and one woman.

Senate File 2357 brings federal laws concerning protective orders and conviction of domestic violence with relation to possession of guns into Iowa’s law.

Rep. Chris Hagenow, R-Windsor Heights, offered an amendment that would define the term spouse to be a person of marriage that is valid under Iowa law that says marriage is between one man and one woman.

The Iowa Supreme Court, last year, ruled the law was unconstitutional, which Rep. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, pointed out on the House floor.

Ultimately the proposal was deemed not germane to the bill.  Hagenow’s call to suspend the rules to move forward anyway failed, largely along a party vote.

Full article from the Register

From Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson:

The three Republican candidates for governor each spoke, briefly, at an Iowa Christian Alliance event earlier tonight. Former Governor Terry Branstad was the first of the three to speak and he began by reminding the crowd that while he was governor, he signed a number of abortion restrictions into law as well as the Defense of Marriage Act.

“I was deeply disappointed that the Iowa Supreme Court struck that down,” Branstad said.”I believe the people of Iowa deserve the right to vote to restore one-man/one-woman marriage in this state.”

Republican rival Bob Vander Plaats drew the largest burst of applause from the crowd when he repeated his vow to issue an executive order on his first day as governor to forbid gay marriage in Iowa.  Vander Plaats suggested it was time to nominate a “principled conservative” as the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nominee.

Full Story at Radio Iowa

Iowa Independent's Jason Hancock reported on last night's Iowa Christian Alliance event. The keynote was GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. But perhaps the most telling speech was given by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.

The scandal-ridden Reed laid out his plan to elect anti-gay officials from governor to the statehouse to school boards.

From the Iowa Independent:

Ralph Reed: Give me $500,000 and we'll take back Iowa

Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and a veteran Republican strategist, told a Des Moines crowd Tuesday night that he was helping establish an Iowa-based Christian political organization, and if he could raise $500,000, Hawkeye State politics would be changed for the better.

[...]

After years in the spotlight, Reed’s political career collapsed in 2006 after his work with and close ties to Jack Abramoff — the disgraced Republican lobbyist who is still in prison for his illegal activity — were revealed. He began his political comeback last summer when he started the national group Faith & Freedom Foundation. He is also widely considered to be mulling a run in Georgia’s open 7th congressional district.

But Tuesday, his focus was on Iowa and the new organization he was hoping to fund, an organization that will have some relationship with the influential Iowa Christian Alliance.

“We’re not going to leave the express advocacy during an election to the radical left, MoveOn.org and labor unions anymore,” he said. “We’re going to do it, and we’re going to get people who share our values elected to office, from governor all the way down to the statehouse and school boards all across the state of Iowa.”

Full story at the Iowa Independent

For One Iowa super volunteer Drew Riebhoff, marriage equality is a "no-brainer".

"I don't get why it's an issue, it doesn't affect anyone but the two people in a relationship" Drew says. "Our country was founded on the ideals of life, liberty and happiness, and denying anyone those ideals is denying them as an American."

Drew also says he was not surprised by the Iowa Supreme Court decision granting gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry.

"In the past, Iowa's been a pioneering state for civil rights, and the Supreme Court just continued that tradition," Drew says.

As a volunteer, Drew's done a bit of everything, but his favorite job was helping plan Sweet Equality. Drew also helped set up and bartened at the event.

We are lucky to have Drew, especially given his incredibly lack of free time. He's also a senior at Simpson College, where he is also student body president, and an intern at the Des Moines Social Club.

There's a rush for marriage licenses in the nation's capital on the first day same-sex unions are legal.

At least 50 same-sex couples were lined up when city offices opened this morning.

A woman at the front of the line with her partner of 12 years called it "a dream come true." She says, "It's like waking up Christmas morning."

Cheering erupted from the crowd when the first couple signed in at the marriage bureau blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

Read the full story from KGAN-Cedar Rapids.