BREAKING: Judge strikes down same sex marriage ban in Iowa

This is great news!

A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa's law banning gay marriage and ordered the county recorder to permit gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied at the Polk County recorder's office for a marriage license, and for the first time the application was accepted. The process of granting a license to marry in Iowa takes three days.

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Gay couples from anywhere in Iowa could apply for a marriage license in Polk County, the state's most populous county.

The ruling by Judge Robert Hanson concluded that the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. He ordered the Polk County recorder to issue marriage licenses to six gay couples who filed a lawsuit.

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Des Moines lawyer Dennis Johnson represented the six gay couples who filed suit after they were denied marriage licenses. He called the ruling "a moral victory for equal rights."

Johnson argued that Iowa has a long history of aggressively protecting civil rights in cases of race and gender. He said the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Legislature passed in 1998, contradicts previous court rulings regarding civil rights and should be struck down.

Johnson called the Defense of Marriage law "mean spirited" and said it was designed only to prohibit gays from marrying. He said it violates the state constitution's equal protection and due-process clauses.