Same-Sex Marriages in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Will Begin Tomorrow
Following a ruling by District Court Judge Alan Malott, Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver can begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Toulouse Oliver said her office would need to get software ready to make the weddings happen, so weddings will begin at 8:00 am tomorrow.
A mass-wedding at Albuquerque Civic Plaza is expected at noon tomorrow.
This is the second time a district court judge had ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.
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Read the rest at New Mexico Telegram: Same-Sex Marriages in Bernalillo County Will Begin Tomorrow
Here’s the full ruling:
The ACLU deserves much of the credit.
…Ruling in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of New Mexico, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and local attorneys on behalf of same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry in New Mexico, Judge Malott said that denying same-sex couples access to civil marriage violates the New Mexico Constitution. The court issued a judgment against the two county clerks and the State of New Mexico declaring that, to the extent New Mexico law prevents same-sex couples from marrying, “those prohibitions are unconstitutional and unenforceable.”…
Two of the couples who sued will pick up their licenses ASAP, but their weddings may not be held immediately.
Following a court ruling this afternoon at least two couples in a gay-marriage lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations say they plan to get their marriage licenses.
State District Judge Alan Malott ruled that Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties cannot discriminate against same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses.
Kim Kiel and her partner Rose Griego, both of Santa Fe, will get their license, though they won’t be married right away. “We’re not sure when,” Kiel told me after the court hearing. “Possibly in October.”
Likewise, Tanya Struble and Therese Councilor of Jemez Springs told The Associated Press that they’re unsure whether to be married immediately or wait for a ceremony that can be attended by family and friends. “We’ve never done this,” Struble said after the hearing.
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The Republicans will not be taking this lying down. There have been strongly-worded blog posts already. This is from the chairman of the Dona Ana Republican Party (DARP):
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Republicans instinctively defend our core values by referring to natural law concepts acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or more authoritatively, the Bible. For example, Republicans routinely appeal to the Bible as the source of authority to defend the definition of traditional marriage. In particular, Genesis 2:24 and Mark 10:6-7.
Yet, we hamstring ourselves by fighting secularist-progressives on their battle ground. Namely, that our fundamental rights come from the government and not our Creator. Though well intentioned, we have welcomed the government into our marriages by promoting subsidies and tax breaks in order to promote the nuclear family. This has unintended consequences. By providing government benefits to some and withholding from others, we provide the very legal foothold progressives need to establish grounds for a lawsuit based on discrimination. In this writer’s opinion, when we remove marriage from government control, we save it. If government has to be involved, it should only be at the State level in accordance with the Constitution.
Progressives want conservatives to base our arguments on ever-changing societal norms and “tradition” instead of the Constitution and natural law. Why? Because progressive reforms can infiltrate, endure and become the new “tradition.” When Republicans are complicit in creating meaning never contemplated by the authors of the Constitution, we lose our intellectual ammunition and end up accepting the change, for better or worse.
Republicans, it is only with an intellectual revolution and a reclaiming of the Constitution that we can effectively fight for religious freedom, marriage, property rights, and free speech. Truth is our strongest weapon. Arm yourself with the truth and change the battlefield.[…]
Emphasis is in the original.
I’m hoping the rest of the state gets marriage equality before the Republicans’ ‘intellectual revolution’ arrives.
UPDATE:
Here comes the #tidalwave! San Miguel County Clerk orders same-sex marriage licenses! #nm #gaymarriage #thisishappening!
— DPNM (@NMDEMS) August 27, 2013
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