Tag: New Mexico

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Kirtland Air Force Base begins recognizing New Mexico same-sex marriage

Courtney Schmelling and Sr. Airman Natalie Throckmorton married on August 28 in New Mexico. New Mexico is currently in flux regarding marriage equality as 8 counties have recently begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  There is no specific law banning marriage equality in the state.

After initially being told ‘no’, she could not have a spousal military ID card based on her marriage in New Mexico because it was “not one of the states that have statewide legislative or judicial decisions allowing for same-sex couples to marry,” Schmelling said that officials at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque changed their position and issued her the card.

Buzzfeed has an email by the American Military Partners Association confirming the change:

“Effective Sept. 3, the Secretary of Defense announced that all military departments will extend benefits to same-sex spouses of military members and retirees. On Sept. 5, military members and their same-sex spouses came into the 377th Force Support Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base with marriage certificates issued in New Mexico. Because civil authorities in New Mexico have only recently begun to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the guidance in hand for Department of Defense identification cards didn’t address jurisdictions in New Mexico. The issue of those ID cards was delayed while Air Force officials sought clarification,” spokeswoman Meredith Mingledorff wrote.

“Based on information received Sept. 6 from Headquarters Air Force Personnel Center on jurisdictions not covered in previous guidance, officials at Kirtland are issuing dependent ID cards to same-sex spouses of military members and retirees with valid marriage certificates from jurisdictions within New Mexico,” she continued.

(via Towleroad)

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New Mexico Supreme Court schedules hearing for same-sex marriage license case

New Mexico’s highest court has scheduled a hearing next month in a case that could resolve whether same-sex marriage is legal in the state.

The state Supreme Court on Friday set the hearing for Oct. 23.

The five-member court took the step a day after New Mexico’s counties and county clerks statewide filed a petition asking the justices to decide whether a judge in Albuquerque was correct in declaring it unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

More than 900 marriage licenses have been issued in New Mexico since Aug. 21, when the Dona Ana County clerk decided independently that gay marriage was allowed in the state.

Seven other counties have started issuing licenses to same-sex couples or plan to do that, several in response to court orders.

(via LGBTQ Nation)

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New Mexico: And we have county number 8!

Add Los Alamos county to the growing list of counties issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in New Mexico. 

The County Clerk, Sharon Stover, didn’t want to jump on the bandwagon, but a district judge ordered the licenses be issued:

Janet Newton and Maria Thibodeau were denied a marriage license last week and they filed a lawsuit that led to a ruling by District Court Judge Sheri Raphaelson that same-sex couples are entitled to be married in New Mexico.

Los Alamos County Clerk Sharon Stover went to court Wednesday to defend her decision, but the judge ruled against the clerk.

Seven of the state’s 33 counties are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and number 8, Grant County, plans to start granting licenses next week.

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New Mexico: 7th county now issuing marriage licenses

Grant County becomes the seventh county in New Mexico issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.

LGBTQ Nation reports:

Grant County Clerk Robert Zamarripa said his office will comply with a judge’s ruling issued Tuesday and will begin providing the licenses next week. “We’ll let the Legislature and courts decide after this what needs to be done,” Zamarripa said in a telephone interview.

His comments came shortly after District Judge J.C. Robinson issued an order requiring the clerk to issue marriage licenses “on a nondiscriminatory basis” to same-sex couples.

Meanwhile, the county clerk for Los Alamos county will go back to court after defying a judge’s order to start issuing the licenses to same sex couples.

The Albuquerque Journal reports:

Los Alamos County Clerk Sharon Stover said on Tuesday that she will defy a court order to issue marriage licenses to couples regardless of sexual preference.

Stover made the announcement in response to a judge’s ruling last week that she issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples or appear in court to explain why that shouldn’t happen.

A district court hearing on the matter is set for tomorrow.

Stover said in a statement that New Mexico’s marriage laws haven’t been changed since the 1960s, and the law includes a marriage license application with sections for male and female applicants.

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New Mexico: GOP state Senator William Sharer says gays should stop “whoring,” marry women

New Mexico State Senator William Sharer, in an effort to explain his opposition to marriage equality, suggested that gay men should stop “whoring” around and marry women instead.

Sharer is behind a Republican legal effort to stop six New Mexico counties from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

In a blog post published Friday, Sharer noted that Alexander the Great “may have engaged in homosexual activity, but he married a woman.”

“[Alexander the Great] directed his officers to stop ‘whoring’ around and find a local woman to marry.”

“’It is only through blood relations that hatred and war will end.’ In other words, Alexander the Great thought that marriage was about creating and raising the next generation,” Sharer wrote.

He went on to suggest that allowing gay couples to marry could lead to the end of the human race: “As marriage goes, so go the children, so goes the nation, so goes the world.”

However, Sharer does want to make it clear he totally has no animosity towards gays and lesbians.

I’m sure some of his best friends are gay.

Riiiiight….

(source)

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New Mexico: 2004 same-sex marriage licenses declared valid by AG King

With all the same-sex marriage activity in New Mexico, the issue of marriage licenses that were briefly issued back in 2004 by the Sandoval County clerk have come back to the forefront, and there’s good news:

Attorney General Gary King says marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in 2004 in Sandoval County remain valid.

King said Wednesday that licenses issued by a county clerk are “presumptively valid” unless voided by a court.

King delivered the non-binding advice in a letter to the current Sandoval County clerk, who found that some of the 2004 licenses recorded in the clerk’s office were labeled as void or invalid.

King said a county clerk is responsible for issuing marriage licenses but “New Mexico law plainly does not provide county clerks with the rights to invalidate marriages.”

Former Sandoval County Victoria Dunlap issued more than 60 licenses on Feb. 20, 2004, but stopped later the same day after then Attorney General Patricia Madrid objected.

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Sixth county in New Mexico to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples

And now a sixth county in New Mexico will begin offering marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

From Think Progress:

Late Tuesday afternoon, a court order from the Eighth Judicial District Court added Taos County to the list as well, and County Clerk Anna Martinez will begin offering them Wednesday morning.

Combined with Santa Fe, Bernalillo, and Doña Ana Counties, this brings the total to six New Mexico counties now offering marriage equality. Together, those six counties are home to 1,172,581 of the state’s population, or 56.2 percent. More counties could soon follow along the momentum.

The state Attorney General has stated he will not challenge the clerks or marriage licenses issued, and the Governor has been silent on the topic.

A group of Republican state lawmakers have filed suit to stop the licenses from issued saying the clerks have broken or changed the law. However, nothing in New Mexico law bans same-sex marriage or stipulates that marriage must be between a man and a woman.

So – there.

Forward.

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New Mexico: Two more counties to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples

Ya-hoo!  My kind of news! Up to five counties in New Mexico now issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

From Equality On Trial:

San Miguel County in New Mexico joins Valencia County as the latest in the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. San Miguel County Clerk Melanie Rivera has confirmed that she will issue new gender neutral marriage licenses later this week, though couples who don’t want to wait can receive a license today:

Rivera also stated that couples who did not wish to wait could apply and receive a license today. Until the new licenses arrive Rivera will make the changes to the old forms by hand.

Valencia County Clerk Peggy Carabajal has also discussed the change:

Valencia County Clerk Peggy Carabajal said she should have gender-neutral licenses ready by Wednesday. She also said she is willing to alter licenses if people want to get married Tuesday.

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New Mexico: State Supreme Court rules photographer discriminated against gay couple

From the Advocate: A New Mexico photography business violated the state’s Human Rights Act by refusing service to a same-sex couple for their commitment ceremony, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

In a decision issued Thursday, the court found that Elane Photography, based in Albuquerque, violated the antidiscrimination law “in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of two different races.” The studio had turned down a request to photograph the commitment ceremony of Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth, the Santa Fe Reporter notes, with co-owner Elaine Huguenin saying the job would go against her Christian faith and the studio handles only “traditional weddings.”

The court ruled that since Elane Photography is a business that markets to the general public, it is subject to the public accommodations provision of the law. “If Elane Photography took photographs on its own time and sold them at a gallery, or if it was hired by certain clients but did not offer its services to the general public, the law would not apply to Elane Photography’s choice of whom to photograph or not,” the decision reads.

Read more here.