Less than 24 hours after the Judge’s order that the county accept applications there has been another order received to stay the order. The Judge’s first order is politically motivated and legislating from the bench. One couple (gay) was waiting in the wing on the Judge’s order. Thanks (or no thanks) tot he Unitarian church the couple assumes they are married. There are 27 couples that returned the licenses in time now creating a dilemma… something the Judge knew would happen. Just another reason you need good judges who don’t legislate from the bench.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Same-sex marriage was legal here for less than 24 hours before the county won a stay of a judge’s order on Friday, a tiny window of opportunity that allowed two men to make history but left dozens of other couples disappointed after a frantic rush to the altar.
At 2 p.m. Thursday, Judge Robert Hanson ordered Polk County officials to accept marriage license requests from same-sex couples, but he granted the stay at about 12:30 p.m. Friday. By then 27 same-sex couples had filed applications, but only Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan of Ames had made it official by getting married and returning the signed license to the courthouse in time.
In the front yard of the Rev. Mark Stringer, pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, they become the only same-sex couple wed in the U.S. outside of Massachusetts, where some 8,000 such couples have tied the knot.
Stringer concluded the ceremony by saying, “This is a legal document and you are married.” The men then kissed and hugged.
“This is it. We’re married. I love you,” Fritz told McQuillan after the ceremony.
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