Iowa, My Iowa
I went to college in Iowa, having grown up in Kansas. I enjoyed it then and I still have the fondest feelings for the state. It was a pleasant place to live, and a surprisingly progressive and educated state, where in my day all the farm boys went to college, studied classics, then went back home and drove tractors and ran their farms. Therefore I felt I needed to note the sudden arrival and rather quick suspension of marriage equality rights for same-sex couples in the state. As the dust settled, one pair of men was left standing — and married.
On Thursday, 30 August, "Polk County Judge Robert Hanson struck down Iowa's prohibition on same-sex marriage…."* The reporting continues:
In his 63-page decision, Hanson wrote that the statute excluding same-sex couples from marriage "violates Plaintiff's due process and equal protection rights for the aforementioned reasons including, but not limited to, the absence of a rational relationship to the achievement of any legitimate governmental interest." Therefore the law is "unconstitutional and invalid."
Apparently this came as a surprise. Iowa court watchers were aware of the case, of course, but presumed that the judge would defer to the Iowa Supreme Court. Instead, what they got is described as a "strongly worded opinion" (that I haven't yet gotten to read). The Independent article continues with some interesting and brief analysis that is worth reading.
Now, immediately upon release of the decision a representative of Polk Country announced that they would appeal. No real surprise there. They also planned to ask for a stay of the ruling. No real surprise there, either. What's interesting is that it was already late in the day and it took several hours the next day for the stay to be requested and to go into effect.
Thus, the "Polk County Recorder's office stopped accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples around 11:30 a.m. today [Friday]."# The story continues with these details:
The move came shortly after Polk County Judge Robert Hanson agreed to suspend his Thursday ruling that overturned Iowa’s ban on same-sex marriages pending an appeal by the Polk County Attorney’s Office to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Polk County Recorder Julie Haggerty responded immediately by refusing to accept any more same-sex marriage license applications. County officials said 21 marriage licenses were issued before 11:30, most apparently to same-sex couples.
However, it is thought that a letter will be sent to those couples explaining that, although they have valid marriage licenses, they cannot be used at this time.
With one exception. It seems that one couple, Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan, both students at Iowa State University, managed on Friday morning to get the license, find a judge to waive the usual three-day waiting period, and then get married, all before the stay went into effect.
Here are some remarks (from the Des Moines Register story) from the judge who signed the waiver:
District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg waived the three-day waiting period for at least two same-sex couples today, beginning with McQuillan and Fritz. He turned away couples following word that Hanson had issued the ruling that delays enforcement of his order.
Though Iowa code dictates that judges may waive the waiting period only “under conditions of emergency or extraordinary circumstances,” Rosenberg said it’s not unusual for couples to ask for the three-day waiting period to be waived.
“I did it as a matter of courtesy for the parties involved,” Rosenberg said. “I guess my feeling is if they’re anxious to get married, I have no problem.”
Rosenberg said he doesn’t recall turning anyone down for a three-day waiver, and that his decision was not from an activist standpoint.
“Politics, I don’t care about that,” he said. “I think had I not signed it, that would be a political statement. If I’m going to grant it for couples that are male and female, then why all the sudden should I change because a couple is the same sex?”
The rest happened easily and quickly enough, apparently — getting hitched without a hitch. As CNN reported (from AP newswire)##:
Friday morning, the Rev. Mark Stringer declared the two Iowa State University students legally married in a wedding on Unitarian minister'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."
Naturally, some claim that their status is ambiguous; others of us know better, regardless of the ultimate (well, near-term ultimate) decision. Not surprisingly, the anti-marriage-equality crowd were caught off guard and they're not at all happy with the situation in Iowa, vowing to do all sorts of vile things to stop the progress of equality.
Here's what the Polk County Recorder, Julie Haggerty, had to say about their status (again, the Des Moines Register story):
“I have no idea what’s going to happen there,” Haggerty said. “As far as I’m concerned, they have a valid marriage certificate from the state of Iowa.”
I'm so happy that this has happened in Iowa.
———-
*Chase Martyn, "Iowa Judge Rules in Favor of Gay Marriage", Iowa Independent, 30 August 2007, at 5:29 pm.
#Jeff Eckhoff and Abby Simons, "Gay marriage ruling put on hold", Des Moines Register, 31 August 2007.
## Associated Press, "Couple weds before same-sex marriages halted", CNN, undated, accessed on Friday, 31 August 2007.
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To thwart spam, comments by new people are held for moderation; give me a bit of time and your comment will show up.
I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Monday, 3 September 2007 at 16.38
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Yes, and most such incidents will represent a moving of the ball down the field. Iowans will probably get see two young men in their midst who represent no threat and present no real problem to them and the institution of marriage in their state.
Down the line, when there are more Seans and Tims with marriages or civil unions here and there across the country, and the sky hasn't fallen, a whole lot of people will shrug and decide it's better to live and let live. Oh, a few angry holdouts will preach fire and brimstone, and rail at how immorality has overtaken the government, starting with the courts. But they won't live forever.
on Tuesday, 18 September 2007 at 21.35
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Yay for Tim & Sean. The race goes to the swift. :)