There’s an interesting sudden flap regarding marriage equality here in New Mexico. The mayor of Santa Fe and one of the city councilors, as well as the city attorney, apparently looked at our marriage laws and concluded that they are gender-neutral. On the other hand, both the Santa Fe and Los Alamos county clerks (the latter a Republican) don’t buy it.
I actually read New Mexico Statute 40-1, which is about marriage and not very long. I’m not a lawyer, but I saw no reference to the gender of spouses except in Section 40-1-18 (not 40-1-8 as claimed in the Monitor article linked above), which lays out the proper form for a marriage license application; this refers to “male applicant” and “female applicant” as well as “bride” and “groom”. The argument that these labels simply reflect tradition rather than an actual proscription of gender seems quite plausible to me.
I hope a courageous same-sex couple steps up soon to demand a marriage license. What fun if it happened in Los Alamos.
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