Two men sealed
Iowa's first legal same-sex marriage with a kiss Friday
morning, less than 24 hours after a judge threw out the
state's ban on same-sex marriage and about two
hours before he put the ruling on hold.
It was a narrow
window of opportunity.
Thursday
afternoon, Polk County judge Robert Hanson temporarily
cleared the way for gay couples across the state to
apply for marriage licenses in Polk County when he
ruled that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which
allowed marriage between a man and a woman only, violated
the state constitutional rights of due process
and equal protection of six same-sex couples who had
sued.
County attorney
John Sarcone promised a quick appeal, and he asked Hanson
to stay his ruling until the appeal was resolved.
A dozen gay and
lesbian couples were waiting at the county recorder's
office when it opened Friday morning.
By 11 a.m., 20
had applied for marriage licenses when recorder Julie
Haggerty announced that she had been instructed to stop
accepting the applications. Hanson told the Associated
Press about an hour and half later that he had
formally stayed his ruling.
The judge's stay
means the recorder's office is not permitted to accept
any more marriage applications from gay couples until the
Iowa supreme court rules on the county's appeal.
Sean Fritz and
Tim McQuillan were among the lucky few to get their
application through.
The marriage
license approval process normally takes three business days,
but Fritz and McQuillan took advantage of a loophole that
allows couples to skip the waiting period if they pay
a $5 fee and get a judge to sign a waiver.
Friday morning a
Unitarian minister, the Reverend Mark Stringer,
declared the two Iowa State University students legally
married in a wedding on Stringer's front lawn in Des
Moines.
''This is it.
We're married. I love you,'' Fritz told McQuillan after the
ceremony.
Fritz explained
their hurry: ''We're both in our undergrad programs, and
we thought maybe we'd put it off until applying at graduate
school, but when this opportunity came up, we thought
maybe we wouldn't get the opportunity again.''
Iowa house
minority leader Christopher Rants, a Republican, said
the ruling illustrates the need for a state
constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
''I can't believe this is happening in Iowa,'' Rants
said, adding, ''I guarantee you there will be a vote on this
issue come January,'' when the legislature convenes.
Gov. Chet Culver
left open the possibility of state action. ''While some
Iowans may disagree on this issue, I personally believe
marriage is between a man and a woman,'' the governor
said.
Same-sex marriage
is legal in Massachusetts, and nine other states have
approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples.
Nearly all states have defined marriage as being
solely between a man and a woman, and 27 states have
such wording in their constitutions, according
to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Dennis Johnson, a
lawyer for the six gay couples who sued after being
denied marriage licenses in 2005, said Iowa has a long
history of aggressively protecting civil rights in
cases of race and gender. The Defense of Marriage Act
contradicts previous rulings regarding civil rights
and is simply mean-spirited, he said.
Roger J. Kuhle,
an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the issue
was not for a judge to decide.
Hanson ruled that
the state law banning same-sex marriage must be
nullified, severed, and stricken from the books, and the
marriage laws ''must be read and applied in a
gender-neutral manner so as to permit same-sex couples
to enter into a civil marriage.''
''This is kind of
the American Dream,'' said plaintiff Jen BarbouRoske,
of Iowa City. ''I'm still feeling kind of shaky. It's pure
elation. I just cannot believe it.''
Kate Varnum of
Cedar Rapids, another plaintiff, said she was elated but
expected more legal battles: ''I don't expect this to be the
last one.''
Even though the
county Web site explaining how to apply for a marriage
license still began with the words ''Marriages in Iowa are
between a male and a female,'' several same-sex
couples were waiting when the county recorder's office
opened at 7:30 a.m. Friday.
Katy Farlow and
Larissa Boeck, both Iowa State University students, were
waiting in lawn chairs outside.
''This might be
our only chance,'' Farlow said. ''We already knew we were
spending the rest of our lives together.'' (Henry Jackson,
AP)
