In Davenport -
In Council Bluffs, near Omaha
No waiver of the three waiting period in Davenport but lots of happy stories
Around the state with a photo gallery
Stories and photos from northern Iowa
More video here
Waiver in Des Moines, and now they're married!
Pastor Pat Esperanaz married Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe just before 10 a.m. Monday during a ceremony under cloudy skies where they were pronounced "legally married." They have already begun referring to one another as wife.
"It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked about the location and media attention at the ceremony. They will both share the last name Keeton.
The couple believes they were the first same-sex couple married in Polk County, and possibly the state since an April 3 Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalized gay marriage.
Couples line up in Des Moines.
Another photo gallery
Culver tells recorders: Follow the law.
And there's the potential for doing well by doing good - study suggests
Unlike Connecticut and Massachusetts, which also permit gay marriage, Iowa has no nearby competitors -- meaning businesses could see $160 million in new spending during the next three years, a University of California at Los Angeles study concluded.
The NY Times chimes in:
Officials and advocates on both sides seemed uncertain what to expect from the day. Some state’s county recorders — especially those near the state’s borders — said they were prepared for a rush of applicants. Some had called in extra help and set up special areas for the expected lines for marriage licenses. "I have no idea what’s going to happen," said Rita Vargas, the recorder in Scott County, near Iowa’s border with Illinois. "But I took an oath to uphold the laws of Iowa and that’s what I’m going to do."
Elsewhere, in places like Iowa’s least populous county, Adams County, Mary Miller, the recorder, said she was not expecting many applicants. She said she intended to handle the day with the usual staff of two, she and other person.
In Johnson County, which includes Iowa City, the day carried particular significance for Kim Painter, the state’s only openly gay recorder. Several years ago, when some same-sex couples approached her seeking licenses as part of a wave of protests against the old law, she said she was compelled to reject them.
And sometimes no news is good news: No reports of same-sex couples being denied marriage licenses, with a great quote from our senator:
Harkin said the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage falls in line with Iowa’s long tradition of being a leader on civil rights issues that dates back more than a century in addressing slavery segregation in schools and admitting female attorneys to the bar association.
"Those were all controversial at that time. We look back now and say -- what was the fuss all about. That’s the way I see this" Harkin said.
"Time heals all wounds," he added. "I think in the future people will shrug their shoulders and say what was the fuss all about. It won’t take that long. I think things will calm down. As long as there is no drive -- and this is where I draw the line -- in mandating churches have to perform any kind of ceremony that is outside of their religious belief. That I’m vehemently opposed to. But as the civil side goes, I think we’re going to abide by the Supreme Court decision and I think in a few years it’ll all be ho-hum."
The reaction to the court decision three weeks ago:
(UPDATE)
This great interactive map allows you to see how many counties have issued marriage licenses today, and for some of the counties how many (dozens in Des Moines, for instance). Two are marked by color as refusing to issue them, but their legend only says they are refusing to report what they have issued, so not the same thing.
(UPDATE 2) In Linn County (Cedar Rapids)