More than people were lined up in Albuquerque on Tuesday morning as the clerk in New Mexico's most populous county began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. The clerk opened her office to the crowd at 8am, and a mass wedding was planned at noon in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza. Patricia Catlett, a year-old graphic designer from Albuquerque, and her partner of 25 years, Karen Schmiege, a year-old retired librarian, were the first to get their license in Bernalillo County.
As they walked out of the booth where they received their license, the crowd applauded and yelled in celebration. The couple raised their hand, and the crowd responded by putting their fists in the air. The Bernalillo County Clerk joined clerks from the state's other two population centers in recognizing same-sex unions after a judge Monday declared gay marriage legal.
State District Judge Alan Malott on Monday ruled New Mexico's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The decision comes on the heels of an order last week from a judge in Santa Fe that directed the county clerk there to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Two days earlier, the clerk in the southern New Mexico county of Dona Ana decided to recognize same-sex couples. But Malott's ruling was seen as more sweeping than the temporary Santa Fe order because he directly declared that 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. However, 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.
