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Iowa Marries Gays but Licenses Won't Cross Border

Federal courts may get involved
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2009 8:29 AM CDT
Iowa Marries Gays but Licenses Won't Cross Border
Diana Parker, 21, of Philadelphia, right, and supporters of gay marriage gather for a vigil and march to the California Supreme Court building in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.   (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

As of today, gay couples will be welcome to wed in Iowa, regardless of whether they live there. If judges waive the three-day waiting period, some could be married by sundown. But for out-of-staters who are already chartering buses, the legally recognized bliss will be short-lived, the Des Moines Register reports. Iowa has no residency requirement for a marriage license, but none of Iowa’s neighbors will recognize those marriages.

“It’s one of the first things we told couples,” said a spokesman for an Illinois gay rights group. “You can get married in Iowa, invite 100 people, and show us your slides. But when you get back to Illinois, in the eyes of the law, you are strangers.” Marriage attorneys think that out-of-staters filing as married on their federal taxes could eventually lead to a Supreme Court showdown. (More Iowa stories.)

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