All 7 of you gay folks in Iowa: quick, get married!

Gay marriage has come to Iowa, at least temporarily. A judge ruled yesterday that denying marriage licenses to gay couples violates their due process and equal protection rights afforded under the Constitution. At least one gay couple has already hastily completed the paperwork to obtain such a license, though the process takes a couple days to complete.

My entire family is from Iowa, and so I have a bit of a window into the sensibilities of average Iowans. This is not going to go over well and in fact may simply be the catalyst to swift action from the Legislature and/or the voters to ban gay marriage outright. In addition I think appellate court action to overturn this decision or at least put it on hold is highly likely. But in the meantime I'm giggling to myself imagining people like my great uncle Carroll finding out that the gays are legally marrying, for now, in their state.