Second NM Judge Orders Clerk To Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples

[Tx4obama]

Second NM Judge Orders Clerk To Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples

August 26, 2013, 6:40 PM

Same-sex marriage efforts in New Mexico took another step forward Monday with yet another state judge ruling that a county clerk could issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The ruling, in a Bernalillo County case, is the second in the last week in which a state court judge has empowered a county clerk to sanction same-sex marriages. The county clerk in yet a third county began issuing licenses on his own last week.

On Monday afternoon New Mexico District Judge Alan Malott ordered Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to the Associated Press. Malott’s ruling comes a week after county clerks in Doña Ana County and Santa Fe County each began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. When one of the couples in the case originally applied for a license from Oliver, they were denied, prompting the lawsuit filed by the ACLU in March. The case has been pending since then.

Oliver told TPM that she was sympathetic to the couple’s request when she was approached but that the state’s statute on gay marriage clearly prevented a same-sex couple from getting married. Oliver noted that the case does not end with Monday’s ruling.

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Full article here: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/08/new-mexico-marriage-license-ruling.php?ref=fpb

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