IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dozens of gay couples have flocked to Iowa from elsewhere in the Midwest since the door to same-sex marriage was opened there this week, and some counties have seen more interest from outside the state than from within.
Some couples from neighboring states where voters have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage plan to move to Iowa so their unions will be recognized.
“It’s a whole different world when you cross the river,” said Troy Fienhold-Haasis of Omaha, who plans to move with his partner, Jason, across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, this fall.
Fienhold-Haasis said the decision to move is about more than just taxes and cost-of-living issues — though those factored heavily into the couple’s decision. When he had emergency gall-bladder surgery last year, Fienhold-Haasis said he worried his partner wouldn’t be able to see him in the hospital.
Influx at the edges
The couple plans to apply for a marriage license in Pottawattamie County, where more Nebraskans than Iowans sought same-sex marriage applications in the first three days they were available. Twenty- three of the 42 applications Monday through Wednesday came from Nebraska, and one was mailed in from Oklahoma.
The story was similar in other counties at the state’s edges. On Monday and Tuesday, five of the 14 Dubuque County applications came from couples in nearby Wisconsin, and 12 of the 38 applications in Scott County came from across the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Both applications filed Monday in Worth County were from Minnesotans, and Missouri couples filed all four applications that day in Decatur County.
Out-of-staters accounted for five of 95 applications received Monday through Wednesday in central Polk County, which includes Des Moines.
One Republican legislator from the Scott County community of Bettendorf said the influx from other states was nothing to celebrate.
“I feel sorry for those states where they will be going to,” said state Sen. David Hartsuch. “Many of them have made their will known and … protect traditional marriage.”
Four of Iowa’s six neighbors, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, have approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
“At this point, the Supreme Court of Iowa is imposing its will on other states,” Hartsuch said, adding that the issue will be a galvanizing point for Republicans in elections next fall.
Fienhold-Haasis said border states are losing out.
“One state is going to get tax dollars, and one state is losing them,” he said.
Encouraged by change
“You can’t undervalue the spiritual value of it,” said Jim Kieffer, who moved to Council Bluffs with his partner in March, in part because of a belief that Iowa would legalize gay marriage. They plan to get married next week.
Gay and lesbian couples in other Midwestern states are encouraged by Iowa’s decision, even if they don’t plan to move there, said Katie Belanger, legislative director for the gay- rights advocacy group FAIR Wisconsin.
Massachusetts and Connecticut allow gay marriage, and Vermont has passed a law that will take effect in September, but the decision in Iowa is more important to Midwesterners, she said.
“It’s not just a state on the coast with a reputation for being extremely liberal and progressive. They’re just like the people in Wisconsin,” Belanger said.
The court ruling
The Iowa Supreme Court on April 3 upheld a lower court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman.
The decision took effect Monday, prompting a flood of applications from same-sex couples.
