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Many same-sex couples in Albuquerque will line up at the County Clerk’s office to get a marriage license today at 8 a.m.
Bernalillo County Second Judicial District Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage Monday afternoon. The decision, issued by county court judge Alan Malott, makes Bernalillo the third county in the state to allow same-sex marriage.
“Gay and lesbian citizens of New Mexico have endured a long history of discrimination,” Malott said in his written decision. “Denial of the right to marry continues this unfortunate, intolerable pattern and establishes irreparable injury.”
As the ruling was read, couples in the courtroom silently hugged as tears slid down their faces. For many, this was a profound moment that came after years of waiting.
For Gail Gerhing, a 73-year-old Placitas resident who has been in a committed relationship for the past 18 years, the change in public sentiment and law is wonderful.
Gerhing said she and her partner married in California in 2008, but the marriage was annulled after California’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision to allow same-sex marriage in the state.
“There’s no feeling like the feeling that you are the same as everybody else,” she said.
UNM psychology major Chanda Shaw and her fiancée Jessica Dunn said they are ecstatic over the decision.
Shaw, who will graduate in December, said they have been together for almost seven years. Dunn is pregnant with the couple’s first child, she said.
“We had a commitment ceremony in 2011 and we’ve definitely been waiting for this day so we could be legally married,” Shaw said.
Dunn said other counties in the state will follow the lead of Doña Ana, Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties.
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“Everything that’s happened in the last week — if that accounts for anything — it’s moving strong,” she said.
Doña Ana County became the first county in New Mexico to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses last week when clerk Lynn Ellins made the decision without being so ordered by a court.
Santa Fe County followed shortly after, when a judge ordered the clerk to begin issuing licenses Thursday. This preceded a 7-4 vote of Santa Fe’s Voters and Elections Committee not to put the gay marriage question on the ballot for the city’s 2013 general elections.
Stacy Ruiz and Bridgette Noriega, both UNM alumnae, said they have been waiting patiently for marriage equality to come to New Mexico.
“We’re thrilled,” Ruiz said. “We’ve been engaged for two years, but we’ve been waiting for it to pass here. We didn’t want to have to leave the state to get married.”
Noriega said she is excited that Bernalillo County has adopted marriage equality, but wishes that all of New Mexico would embrace same-sex marriage.
“It’s sad that it has to be county by county. I wish it was the whole state,” Noriega said.
The couple has scheduled a wedding ceremony for July next year, but Ruiz said they want to file a marriage license right away because they are afraid the ruling will not last.
“We thought we better come now before they revoke it,” she said.
County clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said she has no plans to file an appeal over the ruling. She said her office printed 1,000 new gender-neutral marriage licenses in preparation for the ruling and will be able to print more Tuesday if needed.
“This has been a long time coming. I’ve been waiting for clear judicial direction for a long time, and I’m happy to finally have it,” Toulouse Oliver said. “I was in a situation for a long time where I was unable to act on my personal beliefs, and it was very frustrating.”
UNM psychology major Brittany Arneson said she has been volunteering with GetEQUAL New Mexico on equality for the LGBT community, and is happy for a win in a county with such a large city.
“I feel blessed right now,” she said. “I know we have a long road ahead of us, but this is a battle that we worked really hard for.”
Arneson said GetEQUAL will begin contacting other New Mexico counties and urge them to embrace marriage equality as well.
“I would like to say that they would follow suit pretty quickly, but I don’t know if we’ll be that lucky,” she said. “I do know that we will have to do a lot of outreach to people in the other counties to start working on equality.”
Noriega said she is hopeful that New Mexico as a whole will soon approve same-sex marriage. She said she believes that people’s attitudes about same-sex marriage are becoming positive quickly.
“Love is love and you can’t stop it,” she said. “The world is changing.”
