NEW MEXICO CLERK REBUKED FOR ISSUING SSM LICENSES: From 365Gay.com

The clerk of rural Sandoval County was hauled onto the carpet Monday and publicly chastised by the Country Commission for giving marriage licenses to same-sex couples last week.

Victoria Dunlap, acting on the advice of the county lawyer, issued 66 licenses to gay couples before the Sheriff's department on orders from New Mexico's Attorney General moved in and shut down the office.

As reported first by 365Gay.com Friday Attorney General Patricia Madrid, a Democrat, said the licenses "would be invalid under current law." Dunlap was ordered to appear before the commission to explain her actions. Dunlap initially had said she would not attend the commission meeting. But changed her mind to tell commissioners she had agreed not to issue any more same-sex marriage licenses and would offer refunds to those who received licenses. Dunlop said the whole issue of same-sex marriage and New Mexico law needs to be addressed by a court.

But, about three minutes into the meeting Commissioner Jack E. Thomas accused her of flaunting her power and of having "trampled the emotions of everyone in Sandoval County." With that Dunlap walked out.

After she left commission chairman Daymon Ely apologized to the county's citizens for the pain she allegedly caused. "I'm sorry this county clerk so trivialized this issue and hurt so many people," he said. Commissioners refused to hear from dozens of gay and lesbian couples showed up to tell commissioners how grateful they were for the chance to get a marriage certificate--even if it wasn't legal.

But Dunlop is unrepentant. After walking out of the meeting she recorded five of the marriage licenses that had been stopped by the Sheriff on Friday, but did not issue any new licenses.

link
posted by Eve at 2:05 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home