On dirt road that leads to Wahneta, Florida a driver made the ghastly discovery of a bloody body stabbed to death sitting on the side of the road. The date was Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at about 1:20AM.

That dead man was Ryan Keith Skipper, 25, a gay man. The trials of his accused murders – William David Brown Jr., 22, and Joseph Bearden, 23 – begin today, after several delays, as lawyers begin selecting a jury in a Polk County courtroom, reports The Ledger.

The pair were arrested soon after Skipper’s body was found and have remained in custody over the past two years.

Details of what happened between the three men remain sketchy. Family and friends hope the trial will shed light on Skipper’s final hours.

 See Trial Begins For Men Accused Of Killing Gay Man In Florida
On Top Magazine, OH 

There is distinct frustration in the voices of Iowa social conservatives as they talk about the possibility of the Iowa Supreme Court striking down the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act and allowing same-sex couples to wed.

On Tuesday morning, the court heard oral arguments in the case of Varnum v. Brien. The case, filed initially by six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by Timothy J. Brien, the Polk County Recorder, was given summary judgment in Iowa District Court in August 2007. Although the lower court’s decision was placed on hold pending the appeal to the high state court, one same-sex couple was able to quickly maneuver through the marriage process. The fate and validity of that marriage now hinges on the ruling from this appeal.

 See Social conservatives worry about ‘activist’ justices in gay …
Iowa Independent - Des Moines,IA,USA

In a case that could make Iowa the first Midwestern state to legalize same-sex marriage, the Iowa Supreme Court on Tuesday pressed lawyers for both sides with sharp questions on topics like the 4,000-year-old history of marriage and whether a ruling favoring gay couples would open the door to polygamy.

The legal core of the case, Varnum v. Brien, is whether the state’s 10-year-old law defining a “valid” marriage as only “between a male and female” violates the Iowa Constitution’s guarantees of equal treatment and due process.

A trial court judge ruled last year that the law was unconstitutional and that a dozen gay men and lesbians had been wrongly denied marriage licenses in Polk County, which includes the state capital, Des Moines. The state appealed the ruling, leading to Tuesday’s oral arguments.

But the technical details of the law and the Constitution were only part of a free-wheeling discussion lasting nearly two hours in which the seven justices repeatedly interrupted the lawyers, demanding that they parse and defend their positions.

 See  Iowa Justices Hear Same-Sex Marriage Case