Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples applied for marriage licenses in Iowa on Monday, the first day an Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage became effective.

The Des Moines Register is reporting that at least 360 gay couples, including 26 out-of-state couples, were granted marriage licenses during the first full day of legal gay marriage in Iowa.

The first to marry in Polk County were a lesbian couple. Shelley Wolfe, 38, and Melisa Keeton, 31, received a waiver from the customary three-day waiting period because Keeton is 25 weeks pregnant. The pair were married by their pastor, Rev. Peg Esperanza of the Church of the Holy Spirit, on the steps of the Polk County building. The ceremony lasted 5 minutes and the two women were joined just past 10AM.

Threatened disruptions by anti-gay marriage foes appear to have fizzled.

Chuck Hurley, a former legislator who is the head of the Iowa Family Policy Center, a group that advocates against gay marriage, delivered “several thousand” petition signatures to Polk County Recorder Julie Haggerty that urged her to deny marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples and break the law. Afterwards, he spoke to reporters outside the building.

Hurley said that at least one county recorder was prepared to resign over the issue, but refused to reveal a name.

“I told them we would defend them all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. If they exercise their right of conscience and if the attorney general or others in Iowa, county attorneys or others, have a heavy hand and they try to force a county recorder to do something against their right of conscience, that is an offense against the U.S. Constitution and that will put this matter into federal court. We are not telling county recorders what to do, we are giving them their constitutional options.”

Earlier in the day, Democratic Governor Chet Culver instructed county recorders to follow the law and grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

“This is not an option. This is a duty and a responsibility that these elected officials have under Iowa law,” Culver said later in the day. “And they will be expected to follow that. And I believe they will.”

There were no reports of county recorders refusing gay couples marriage licenses, but many recorders have yet to be tested.

A lesbian couple of 25 years with two sons, age 13 and 17, called it a bit “anti-climatic.”

“Twenty-five years of married life, it kind of seems silly to organize a ceremony,” Lori Blachford, who's preparing to marry Karen Utke in the summer, said. “But we're thrilled to be able to do it.”