SIOUX CITY -- Chuck Swaggerty and Jason Morgan were one of six couples who were parties to a court case leading to the April 2 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in the state.

They believe they were among the first same-sex couples to marry in the state, journeying a county north to be married shortly after 8 a.m. April 27 in the Plymouth County Courthouse in Le Mars.

The two had been in a committed relationship for years, Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan said, but they wanted the legal protection that comes from a state-sanctioned marriage. Six months later, their life has changed for the better, they said, for the ability to both be covered by the health insurance Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan has at his job and for being able to adopt children as a couple.

Speaking as some of their four kids played in the living room, Jason Swaggerty-Morgan explained that previously one person in a partnership would adopt a child individually, then the other partner, months later, would adopt as a second parent.

"It is twice as expensive, it is twice the hassle, plus I had to wait six months, knowing that I wasn't really the adoptive parent. It was really sad," Jason Swaggerty-Morgan said.

On Oct. 16, the two may have made another Iowa first -- the married same-sex couple adopted children, the Swaggerty-Morgans said.

"It was a real victory for us when we adopted these children.... We were treated equally, as if we were a heterosexual married couple," Jason Swaggerty-Morgan said.

Some of the children have special needs, so the couple wanted Jason Swaggerty-Morgan to stay home. That was an option, given the health insurance covering both men.

"Now that we got married, I have health care," Jason Swaggerty-Morgan said. "That's a big deal. It could financially ruin our family if I were to have gotten sick and not have health care."

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