The Marriage Equality Train Added Two More Stops

I feel like I blinked and two more states joined the Marriage Equality team.

Out there in New Mexico it was quite easy because their state constitution never had any specific wording about male-female only weddings, and so it seemed that it was legal all along for same sex couples to wed.

And most of New Mexico went, Meh. Okay. Get married.

But then Utah — U-freaking-tah — where a federal judge ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and suddenly The Gays were lining g up to be married and county clerks were quitting their jobs so they wouldn’t have to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

And then the wingnuts came out of the woodwork, and by wingnuts I mean the Republicans, who were trying anything to stop the weddings.

Even the Governor, Gary Herbert filed seeking an Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay hoping to stop The Gays from being equal. And then just yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit denied his motion.

According to court documents, the filing for an Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay neither addressed nor satisfied the factors that must be established to be entitled to a stay pending an appeal. The denial is without prejudice if the defendants-appellants file a motion for stay pending appeal that complies with regulations.

So, the marriages are still on, and the wingnuts are still trying to stop them. It all smacks of California, though, doesn’t it, when marriage equality was the law and then it wasn’t and then the Supreme Court said, and I quote, kind of, “Oh yes it is.”

So, out in New Mexico the marriages are on and most folks are cool with it, while up in Utah the marriages are on, but there are a lot of folks who have their Bigot Briefs in a bunch. But, like I said, this has happened before and we’ve seen how that turned out.

Congratulations New Mexico and Utah. Welcome aboard.