Marriage News Watch, 8/26/13

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




FLASH, 6:28 PM CST - - - This just in, from the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Bernalillo County told to issue same-sex marriage licenses

An Albuquerque judge on Monday ordered the clerk of New Mexico’s most populous county to join two other counties in the state in issuing marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples.

The order from State District Judge Alan Malott came in a case involving a lesbian couple who sought an emergency ruling because one of them is dying.

In an unexpected turn, the couple was able to get married Friday after a judge in a separate case ordered the Santa Fe clerk to issue same-sex licenses. Also last week, the clerk of Doña Ana County in Southern New Mexico decided on his own to recognize same-sex marriage.

Malott said New Mexico’s constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Earlier Monday, Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said she had 1,000 licenses printed in case Malott ordered her to issue licenses for same-sex marriages.

The hearing originally was scheduled on an emergency motion to force the county to issue a marriage license to Jen Roper, who is dying of cancer, and Angelique Neuman because of Roper’s cancer. . . .

A group of Republican legislators is planning to file a lawsuit to stop [Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins].

Ellins, however, says, “I think the train has pulled out of the station."

Update, 8/27, 1:35 p.m.: Two more counties, San Miguel and Valencia, announced today that they will also issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples this week.

This train is bound for glory.