CARNAL NATION

Even in Iowa, the county courthouse is rarely considered the hip place to be. Today's different, though. Today is the first day that same-sex couples can legally get married in accordance with the recent decision by the Iowa Supreme Court, and all of a sudden, the courthouse is the place to be, no matter which side of the debate you're on. As couples show up to apply for marriage licenses, the obligatory cavalcades of anti-gay Christians are also showing up. Gloria Villanueva, of Bonaparte, Iowa, has organized statewide prayer vigils, urging her fellow anti-marriage activists to show up at their local courthouse and pray at 7:45 AM. [Slideshow of vigils - Ottumwa Courier]

So far, there seems to have been little divine intervention as a result of the prayers by Villanueva and her fellow believers. People are, in fact, getting married faster than ever. Iowa law usually requires couples to wait three days after receiving their license before they get married. However, the AP reports that a judge has waived the waiting period, allowing couples to get married immediately. The first couple to get married in Des Moines today were Shelley Wolf and Melisa Keeton, who also got the judge to set aside the waiting period. The couple said that they wanted to get married quickly because Keeton is 25 weeks pregnant. Although that sounds like a new spin on and old story, it seems to be connected directly to the issue of health care. "For us, while I'm only 25 weeks pregnant, already into the third trimester, I’ve had a lot of medical issues," Keeton said. "To me it'll be a lot less stressful because we'll have legal rights. Really, today is about making it legal."