Gay and lesbian couples in Story County have held off applying for marriage licenses, despite recent attempts by same-sex couples in Iowa City to tie the knot.

As San Francisco continues approving marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, other same-sex couples have applied for marriage in cities such as New Paltz, N.Y., and most recently, Iowa City.

On Friday, 40 same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in Iowa City, filling the courthouses’ hallways with their witnesses and nearly 100 supporters. They were denied applications by an openly lesbian county recorder.

Kim Painter, Johnson County recorder, said she would uphold the law, even though she said she was personally disappointed to deny marriages.

Painter said she faces a special dilemma denying marriage applications to gay couples, because she supports San Francisco’s granting of gay marriages as a civil rights stance, but wouldn’t use illegal means to obtain it.

“The worst thing I could have done would be to break the law on the matter this close to my heart,” she said.

However, gay and lesbian couples in Story County have not applied for marriage licenses. If they did apply, the Story County recorder won’t be as accommodating as city officials in San Francisco.

“We’ve taken a look at the code, and it’s very specific in that a marriage is only valid between a man and a woman,” said Sue Vande Kamp, Story County recorder. “No same-sex couples have applied for marriage at our office.”

State lawmakers passed legislation in 1998 defining that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid. Iowa law carries no provision for sanctioning same-sex marriages or civil unions.

Similar laws in other states haven’t stopped gay marriages. But same-sex couples in Story County won’t apply for marriages until the dust settles from the Massachusetts court ruling, said Todd Herriott, coordinator for disability resources and co-adviser to the LGBTAA.

“I haven’t heard of anyone in the area who indicated they were going to pursue gay marriage,” Herriott said.

“Most people are doing a wait and see, and if it’s legalized in one state, then we’ll see a much greater number of people applying for marriage.”

If gay marriage becomes legal in one state, then all states must acknowledge the marriage “for the same reasons that a couple married in Minnesota is still married if they move to Iowa,” he said.

Across the country, gay and lesbian couples are campaigning harder than ever for legalizing gay marriage. In the wake of a Massachusetts court ruling that stated anything less than marriage for gays would be unconstitutional, more than 3,400 couples have been married in San Francisco this month. A dozen gay and lesbian couples were issued marriage certificates in New Paltz, N.Y.

Painter applauded the efforts of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s attempts to legalize gay marriage as an “act of lawlessness akin to the Boston Tea Party.”

“Although Newsom’s act, while not violent destruction like the Boston Tea Party, was the breaking of a law,” she said. “However, history will view it as an enormously important act.”

While the tug-of-war over gay marriages continues in state courts and county halls, Herriott isn’t worried about the outcome. He said he believes the legalization of gay marriage is inevitable in a modern culture.

“Several of our Western European neighbors have already taken steps to legalize gay marriage,” he said.

“If we don’t do it, we’ll create the image of the United States being incredibly puritanical [and] completely oblivious to the modern world.”