Iowa: Marriage hopefuls gather
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| Mon, 04-27-2009 - 10:50am |
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090427/NEWS/90427003/1001
Dozens of gay couples applied for Iowa marriage licenses this morning, and the first legal gay weddings under a new Supreme Court ruling could take place before lunch.
Gay couples showed up first thing this morning at recorders' offices in Polk County and elsewhere around the state. At 8 a.m., the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling went into effect, and recorders began issuing marriage licenses.
Photo gallery: Iowa begins issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
The first same-sex marriage in Polk County under the new ruling could happen within the hour.
Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were the first same-sex couple with a license in hand at the Polk County administration building, and Judge Karen Romano granted the Des Moines couple a waiver to the standard three-day waiting period.
The couple, with a pastor in tow, were working to assemble a ceremony after Romano's decision about 8:40 a.m. Wolfe, 38, and Keeton, 31, had a commitment ceremony about two years ago.
Lori Blachford, a Drake University journalism professor, stood in line outside the recorder's office early Monday. As television cameras surrounded the dozens of couples in line, she talked about how life with her partner of
25 years, Karen Utke, is going to change.
"We're living the married life, same as our parents did, painfully and traditionally boring," said Blachford, who is 45.
But even though they've been together so long, the concept of marriage didn't seem to have fully set in. Blachford first introduced her partner as "my friend," then stuttered and settled on "my Karen." They have two sons, age 13 and 17, conceived with an anonymous sperm donor.
"They're grown up with us just acting like a married couple and in a normal family," Blachford said. "But they understand the legal issues. They realize the inequity. They don't understand why we should be treated any different."
The couple plan to get married in the summer. "It's a little anti-climactic to us," Blachford said. "Twenty-five years of married life, it kind of seems silly to organize a ceremony. But we're thrilled to be able to do it."
Denny Schrock and Patrick Phillips-Schrock wore tuxedos to the recorder's office. They've together five years, and had a commitment ceremony three years ago at the Unitarian Universalist church in Des Moines.
"I didn't think this would happen in my lifetime," the 58-year-old Phillips-Schrock, a retired high school French teacher who is originally from Jefferson but now lives in Urbandale, said. "It's incredible. In Iowa, of all places!"
Gay couples also applied for licenses in several other counties, including Dubuque, Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills, Fremont and Woodbury.
More couples share their stories
For one of the gay couples in line, the experience was deja vu. Alicia Zacher, 24, and Jessica Roach, 22, 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. 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."

