Way to Go Iowa!

First same-sex marriage license issued in Iowa

DES MOINES — Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe are the first same-sex couple with a license in hand at the Polk County administration building, now that an Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage has taken effect.
Judge Karen Romano granted a waiting-period waiver shortly after 8:30, and the couple, with a pastor in tow, plan to have a ceremony within the hour. Ordinarily there is a three-day waiting period in Iowa.

Wolfe, 38, and Keeton, 31, had a commitment ceremony about two years ago.

They were among about a dozen people gathered at the Polk County recorde's office by 7:30 this morning in anticipation of the Iowa Supreme Court's gay marriage decision going into effect. The court had issued an order early in the day confirming that the appeals process in the case had officially concluded.

The group, which stood in a drizzling rain, included at least three same-sex couples filling out papers on clipboards so they can apply for marriage licenses. Three women walked into the county administration building with T-shirts that read, "Engayged." Two men with tuxedos walked into the recorder's office shortly before 7:30 a.m.

Polk County Recorder Julie Haggerty has said she will not begin issuing licenses until she receives the formal go-ahead from the Polk County attorney's office. The formal order is expected to come down between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., said Assistant Polk County Attorney Michael O'Meara.

A group of same-sex-marriage opponents is also expected to arrive this morning to deliver a petition urging the recorder's office not to issue the licenses. Polk County sheriff's deputies are on hand to maintain the peace.

Two plaintiffs in the original Iowa court case got to the Polk County administration building before 7 a.m.

Standing with son Jameson, 2, were Ingrid Olson and Reva Evans.

"Just walking up, I got tears in my eyes," Olson said. "Seeing this building today was more powerful than the first time we walked up in 2005. Back then we knew we'd get turned away. Today I got a pit in my stomach."

They'll get married on June 15, which is Jameson's birthday.

"We feel like this is the state's birthday present for him," Olson said.

For Alicia Zacher, 24, and Jessica Roach, 22, both of Des Moines, it was deja vu. They had applied for a license in August 2007, after a Polk County judge's ruling briefly made gay marriage legal. Only one couple was married before the ruling was put on hold. Now, Zacher and Roach must go through the process again.

Today, they were the fourth couple in line. They planned to ask for a waiver from a judge so they could skip the three-day waiting period. They have a tentative appointment with a judge for 4 p.m. today to get married.

"I'm nervous," Zacher said. "I just want to go in and get the bureaucratic part over with."

Last night, they celebrated with family at P.F. Chang's restaurant in West Des Moines, Iowa. They'll celebrate tonight with friends.

"I just would like to have the protections in place as soon as possible," Roach said. "Like if tomorrow she got in a car accident, I'd have to call her mom in Nebraska."

No protesters were at the county administration building this morning.

When Chuck Hurley, leader of the Iowa Family Policy Center, arrived about 7:40 a.m., about 20 reporters and photographers surrounded him. Hurley has become the lead Iowa spokesman for anti-gay marriage protests. He believes that marriage should be only be between a man and a woman.

Elsewhere in Iowa, Emmet County Recorder Sue Snyder said no marriage licenses had been issued this morning, as of about 8:15 a.m. There was one protester of the marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a friend of Snyder's, who brought in a petition for Snyder to have, Snyder said.

"They're asking that we refuse to issue these licenses," Snyder said. "My response is that I'm governed by the state of Iowa to follow the laws and serve the people and that's what I will do. We just agreed that it would not cause any friction between our friendship, then we left it at that."

Contributing: The Associated Press.