New Mexico: Now At 6 Marriage Equality Counties (55% Of State's Population)

Progress on marriage equality is happening pretty quickly. On Saturday I blogged about the two counties, Doña Ana and Santa Fe, that were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Less than a week a later that number has now tripled to six counties.

The Washington Post reports on the current state of marriage equality in New Mexico:

State District Judge Alan Malott on Monday ordered Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar to begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples immediately. The ruling echoed another district judge’s ruling last week that ordered Santa Fe County to begin issuing licenses. 

[...] 

In anticipation of the decision, both county clerks had already begun printing gender-neutral marriage licenses. Last week, the county clerk in Dona Ana County, in southern New Mexico, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On Tuesday, clerks in Valencia County and San Miguel County said they, too, would begin issuing licenses. 

Together, the five counties are home to more than 1.1 million of New Mexico’s 2.08 million residents.

The sixth county that is issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples is Taos County. The question now is how long will it take for a statewide ruling to be made to establish the public policy of New Mexico that marriage equality is the law of the land, making the Land of Enchantment the 14th marriage equality  state in the Union.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

NEW MEXICO: Same-Sex Couples Issued Marriage Licenses In 2 Counties

As I predicted earlier this year, New Mexico has become the latest front in the fight for marriage equality. This week, county clerks in Doña Ana County (where Las Cruces is located) and Santa Fe (where the state capitol is located) began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In Santa Fe, they did so in response to a court order from District Judge Sarah Singleton, while in Las Cruces it happened because the county clerk responded to New Mexico Attorney General Gary King's determination that the state's marriage law is  unconstitutionally discriminating against same-sex couples.

The Washington Post reported the news:

New Mexico law doesn’t explicitly prohibit or authorize same-sex couples to be married. The attorney general’s office has interpreted the law to prohibit gay marriage, but Attorney General Gary King also contends that the law violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law. 

More than a dozen other states do allow same-sex marriage. 

Singleton, in her order, said that “reading a sex or sexual orientation requirement into the laws of New Mexico violates the state constitution, which mandates that ‘equality of rights under law shall not be denied on account of the sex of any person.’” 

The order comes as about 90 same-sex couples have received marriage licenses in southern New Mexico since Wednesday, when the Dona Ana County clerk in Las Cruces decided to start granting them. 

A group of Republican legislators is planning to file a lawsuit to stop the clerk in that county, the second largest in the state.

Recently, the state Supreme Court declined to rule directly on the constitutionality of the state's marriage law but  did endorse expedited lower court review. That's good, because events around marriage equality are coming fast and furious in the Land of Enchantment.