New Mexico Gay Marriage: Bernalillo County Begins Issuing Licenses

By JERI CLAUSING and RUSSELL CONTRERAS 08/27/13 02:58 PM ET EDT AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More than 100 people lined up in Albuquerque Tuesday as the clerk in New Mexico's most populous county began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The Bernalillo County clerk opened her office to the excited crowd at 8 a.m., and a mass wedding took place at noon in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza.

Patricia Catlett and her partner of 25 years, Karen Schmiege, were the first to get their license there. Catlett, 61, is a graphic designer from Albuquerque, and Schmiege, 69, a retired librarian.

"I am so excited, I can't stand it," Schmiege said as they signed their papers.

As the couple walked out of the booth where they received their license, the crowd applauded and cheered. The two raised their hands, and the crowd responded by putting their fists in the air.

"I want her to take me to Costa Rica," Schmiege said. "She promised."

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver began recognizing same-sex unions after State District Judge Alan Malott on Monday declared gay marriage legal, saying New Mexico's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

She joins clerks in the state's other two population centers in recognizing same-sex unions. Also, Tuesday, at least two other New Mexico counties said they had decided to issue the licenses.

The Dona Ana County clerk decided to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples last Wednesday. Two days later, a judge in Santa Fe ordered the county clerk there to do so.

But Malott's ruling was seen as more sweeping than the temporary Santa Fe order because he directly declared gay marriage was legal.

Laura Schauer Ives, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, called it "monumental" and said the group didn't expect such a broad decision by Malott.

The judge had been asked only to order that the state recognize, on her death certificate, a dying woman's marriage Friday in Santa Fe to her longtime partner.

But after a short hearing in which neither the counties nor the state objected to the request, Malott also ruled on the broader lawsuit by that couple and five others seeking marriage licenses.

It's uncertain whether clerks in the state's 30 other counties, who were not defendants in the lawsuit, will use the judge's ruling as a signal that they can issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The clerks in San Miguel and Valencia counties said Tuesday they had ordered gender-neutral forms and would begin issuing the licenses. But Assistant Attorney General Scott Fuqua said the decision wasn't binding on clerks outside Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties.

A group of Republican legislators is planning to file a lawsuit to stop clerks from issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

One of those lawmakers, Sen. William Sharer of Farmington, said it is up to the state Legislature, with the consent of the governor, to make laws – not the county clerks or district judges.

"It is inexplicable how a district court just today discovered a new definition of marriage in our laws, when our marriage law has not been changed in over a century," Sharer said.

Helen Taylor, 45 and Apryl Harris, 47, of Rio Rancho, didn't want to wait until the battle was played out in state courts.

The emotional couple was among the first to receive marriage licenses in Bernalillo County Tuesday. They had originally planned to get married in New York in February.

"It was better to do it here," Harris said. "This is our home."