DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Same-sex couples in Iowa began applying for marriage license on Monday after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay unions took effect.
The court issued an order early in the day confirming that the appeals process in the case has officially concluded.
The first same-sex weddings could happen as soon as Monday if couples can secure waivers that will let them bypass Iowa’s three-day waiting period.
In Des Moines, about a dozen gay and lesbian couples waited in the rain for the Polk County administrative building to open.
Grant Lan, 35, and his partner Andrew Mahoney-Lan, 32, were first in line. The Windsor Heights couple planned to seek a waiver that would let them marry Monday.
“It’s huge to be here first,” Mahoney-Lan said.
Alicia Zacher, 24, and her 22-year-old fiance Jessica Roach, both of Des Moines, said they have a 4 p.m. appointment to get married if they can get a waiver. They want to get married immediately after seeing how California voters reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage.
“You just never know when they’ll try to take it away,” Roach said.
The Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous and emphatic decision on April 3 made Iowa the third state to allow same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. For six months last year, California’s high court allowed gay marriage before voters banned it in November. Vermont has passed a law that will take effect in September.
In its decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld an August 2007 decision by a Polk County District Court judge who found that a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection. One couple was married in 2007 before the Polk County judge ordered a stay on his decision.
Gay marriage opponents have no other legal options to appeal the case to the state or federal level because they were not parties to the lawsuit and there were no federal issues raised in the case.
Their only recourse appears to be a constitutional amendment, which couldn’t get on the ballot until 2012 at the earliest. A constitutional convention could be called earlier, but that is unlikely.
Iowa’s same-sex marriage case began in 2005 when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, sued on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples.
Iowa has a history of being at the forefront on social issues. It was among the first states to legalize interracial marriage and to allow married women to own property. It was also the first state to admit a woman to the bar to practice law and was a leader in school desegregation.
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