Yay Sweden and Iowa!
Same sex couples in Sweden no longer have to be content with a civil union and a religious blessing, they can get married for real from May 1st 2009. BBC article

In Iowa the supreme court has ruled the ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional. Desmoines Register article. Civil marriage should be possible immediately from April 24th 2009, and several churches also offer religious marriage ceremonies for same sex couples.

Unfortunately social conservatives in Iowa cannot seem to grasp that the word "marriage" can be used both about a legal relationship which the state regulates, and a religious relationship which is between individuals, their churches and their god(s). Many people who say they are opposed to same sex marriage also say they are for same sex civil unions with all the civil rights of marriage, as long as it's not called by the same word.

Whatever. I don't care what people call it, as long as everyone has the same civil rights. I'm also slightly amused that these social conservatives don't seem to understand that even if "marriage" is applied *only* to the religious ceremony of commitment, nothing is stopping all the queers from having a religious commitment ceremony according to their own faith, which may be a different Christian church or a different faith all together.

But because of the blurring of religious/civil marriage, social conservatives are going to keep pushing for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman - and what the constitution defines is exclusively the civil marriage, since the state has no power of the churches.

Edited to add date for Iowa marriage, google article