Gay Couples Get Marriage Licenses in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa _ Iowa’s first same-sex couple to get married here tied the knot Friday in a surprise breakthrough for gay rights advocates in this traditionally conservative Midwestern state.

As wedding ceremonies go, Rev. Mark Stringer admits the event he presided over in a front yard on Friday morning was “really brief” and lacked the usual lofty and sometimes somber oratory used to unify the betrothed.

But taking advantage of a narrow window created by a Polk County judge _ an opening that closed hours later when the judge agreed to stay his ruling _ Stringer administered vows to university students Timothy McQuillan and Sean Fritz in what is believed to be Iowa’s first same-sex marriage.

“It was a very quick decision for me to say `yes’ to them because for so many years, I’ve performed same-sex union ceremonies without the piece of paper,” Stringer said after the two on Friday morning quickly obtained a marriage license from the Polk County recorder’s office.

“It was awesome,” said Stringer, who studied for seminary training in Chicago and now heads the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines. “Every religion can do what they want, but in my faith tradition, we believe in love and justice and to me, this was an example of love and justice.”

In a state where Midwestern heartland values are viewed by some as an important component in the quadrennial role of helping pick the nation’s presidential contenders, the ruling by Judge Robert Hanson on Thursday to strike down the state’s 1997 Defense of Marriage Act that limited state-recognized marriages to one man and one woman was considered a significant surprise.

Hanson’s ruling was limited to Polk County, where Des Moines is the county seat.

The case is already becoming a political football as the caucuses approach in Iowa. But Camilla Taylor, a Chicago attorney with Lambda Legal, a national gay rights organization, said the timing was not of their choosing. The group took on the case in 2005 because Iowa homosexuals _ particularly senior citizens _ were desperate for the protection that marriage provides, and it has taken this long to resolve, she said.

“I do think (gay and lesbian) people around the country are going to be very excited, if this is upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court, because I think it’s indicative of what people in the heartland really believe about the need for fair treatment for everyone,” Taylor said. “And I think that has great moral and symbolic value for everyone.”

The ruling also pushed the issue into the Republican presidential campaign.

Mitt Romney, who is trying to solidify his credentials with GOP conservatives in the nation’s first caucus state after serving as governor in Massachusetts, called Thursday’s ruling “another example of an activist court” and urged a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., another candidate who is courting religious conservatives, said in a statement that “the people of Iowa reject the redefinition of marriage and I pledge to defend the bond of marriage.”

Iowa Republicans said they would work in the next legislative session to try to fashion a state constitutional ban on same sex marriage and Iowa’s Democratic governor, Chet Culver, said he would follow the legal and legislative maneuverings, though he personally believed marriage was between a man and a woman.

Republican House Minority Leader Christopher Rants said the judge’s action show that Iowa needs a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

When he has pushed for such an amendment in the past, other leaders have told him there was no need because the 1997 law bans gay marriage. Clearly, that isn’t enough, Rants said. He added that he was galled that a local judge took it upon himself to essentially rewrite state law.

“This is the will of the people,” he said. “They voted for a Legislature that passed this law. And now we have an un-elected judge toss it out.”

But Ellen Grant, who is starting a chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, supported issuing marriage licenses as a legal way to recognize same-sex relationships.

“It’s not just a religious issue,” Grant said. “It’s an issue of rights. They deserve them just like you and me or anybody.”

As Jennifer Harvey, a Drake University professor, and Chris Patterson, a recreation coordinator in West Des Moines, walked down the steps outside the Polk County Administration Building, their marriage license in hand, the two women said the judge’s original order was “a big step for Iowa.”

“I don’t think Iowa is as conservative as the rest of the country thinks,” said Patterson. “Most people just kind of keep to themselves and kind of like do your thing and it’ll be fine. I think it says a lot about our state. Maybe we’ll get a little respect now.”

Harvey, who had hopes of changing her name to Patterson-Harvey on Thursday, said the two previously held a “marriage” ceremony in November but wanted the marriage license to reflect a legal validation of the benefits and rights they are entitled to receive.

“It tells the state and tells the people that we’re here and we want to be married and we want to be recognized the same way” as heterosexual couples, Harvey said. “That’s what’s most important to me _ that we have that right and should have that right.”

But shortly after Patterson and Harvey got their license, and about an hour after McQuillan and Fritz were married, Hanson agreed to a request by Polk County Atty. John Sarcone to stay his ruling. By that time, about 20 same-sex couples had obtained marriage licenses, the Polk County recorder said.

It was unclear how Hanson’s ruling would affect McQuillan and Fritz and other couples who obtained marriage licenses. After McQuillan and Fritz obtained their marriage license they were among a few who got a judge’s approval to waive a required three-day waiting period and held their marriage ceremony.

After the stay was issued, white and yellow signs were posted in the doors, hallways and elevators of the county building explaining that applications for marriage licenses from same sex couples would no longer be accepted pending Supreme Court review.

In typical Iowa fashion, the signs concluded: “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Several Iowa leaders urged voters to bear in mind that the decision of one county judge won’t by itself change the law. Mike Gronstal, the Democratic state Senate majority leader, said that this it was just the beginning of a long process that will probably end in a Supreme Court review next year.

The Supreme Court could overrule the local judge, agree that same-sex marriage should be permitted or demand that the state create a legal arrangement that offers legal rights similar to those provided by marriage, such as civil unions. Either way, it is important to have the court weigh in before the legislature rushes to change the law or amend the constitution, Gronstal said.

While many Iowans were caught off guard by the ruling, Mary Lundby, the outgoing Republican minority leader in the Iowa Senate and ADDEDstate co-chair of GOP presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani’s campaign, was more sanguine.

“Personally it doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “A lot of things have changed in this world, and the voters’ acceptance of gay couples has gotten stronger in the last years.”

While Lundby said she supported the traditional concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman, “I don’t think it’s going to be the end of the world if gay couples seek to be married.”

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(Pearson reported from Des Moines and Working contributed from Chicago.)

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(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.

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