Bravo to those clerks who stand up for equality.
Now Sandoval County, New Mexico county clerk Victoria Dunlap decided to issue same-sex marriage licenses, after the county attorney decided that New Mexico law defined marriage as a contract between two parties — but didn’t mention gender.
“It’s going to be across the country and so we wanted to be ahead of the curve,” Dunlap said referring to the question of whether gay marriages are legal, according to the Associated Press. Her action came during a week in which such prominent local elected officials as the mayors of Chicago, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City declared their support for gay marriage.
Dunlap’s office granted licenses to at least 15 same-sex couples before the New Mexico attorney general, Patricia Madrid, issued a late-afternoon opinion saying the licenses were invalid under state law. Sixty-six marriage licenses had been issued and 30 couples were waiting in line less than an hour before closing when the county sheriff and a deputy, carrying Madrid’s opinion, blocked issuance of more licenses.
I love this kind of civil disobedience. While some people — among them some activists for equal rights — are worried that this will create a backlash resulting in the worst consequence, a constitutional amendment, I am choosing to be optimistic: I think that once you’ve got thousands of married couples, and it’s demonstrated that they have no detrimental effect on straight couples, then said straight voters are likely to say, “who cares? It doesn’t affect me.”
Oh, and one little thing: the Sandoval County Clerk is a Republican.
