American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

Video: Marriage comes to New Mexico & more news

Overview

This week’s all about New Mexico, where we’ve got surprise weddings, new lawsuits, old lawsuits, and emergency orders. Meanwhile there’s a hearing coming up to determine whether those Pennsylvania weddings actually counted, new organizing in Tennessee and Arkansas and Indiana, and a special session in Hawaii.

Transcript

This week’s all about New Mexico, where we’ve got surprise weddings, new lawsuits, old lawsuits, and emergency orders. Meanwhile there’s a hearing coming up to determine whether those Pennsylvania weddings actually counted, new organizing in Tennessee and Arkansas and Indiana, and a special session in Hawaii.

At the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to Marriage News Watch for August 26, 2013.

Let’s start with New Mexico, where there’s a lot going on right now. It’s a lot to keep track of, so here’s what you need to know: earlier this year, two separate groups filed separate lawsuits in state district court. One was filed by the ACLU, the other by State Representative Brian Egolf.

Then suddenly last week, one county clerk said that the state’s marriage statute was gender neutral, and just started marrying gay and lesbian couples just like that.

And late on Friday, a judge in one of those lawsuits ruled that Santa Fe county had to start issuing licenses too.

So now things are getting complicated. Governor Susana Martinez and Attorney General Gary King both say they oppose marriage equality, but they aren’t going to do anything to challenge the licenses. It looks like a group of New Mexico Republicans will file suit to stop the marriages. It’s anyone’s guess how that will go.

And that’s still not the end of it. Late last week, the ACLU and NCLR filed an emergency request on behalf of a woman with potentially fatal brain cancer. Because she may pass away before the litigation is concluded, she and her family need the protection of marriage right away.

And there’s one more headline from New Mexico: the state Supreme Court ruled last week that a wedding photographer violated nondiscrimination law when she refused service to a lesbian couple.

So that’s the news from New Mexico — for now. We’ll likely see a lot more happening there over the next few days.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of activity in other states. We now have a date for a hearing in the case regarding the marriages in Pennsylvania: September 4th.

There’s a new petition for marriage recognition in Arkansas. The Tennessee Equality Project will observe Marriage Equality Day on August 31st. Businesses in Indiana are teaming up with equality organizers to fight a proposed constitutional ban on marriage. And Hawaii legislators are still trying to decide whether to call a special session to consider a marriage equality bill.

With major new developments likely over the next few days, we’ll be keeping a close eye on all these stories. Subscribe here on YouTube and at AFER.org to stay up to date. At the American Foundation for Equal Rights, I’m Matt Baume. See you next week.