SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, 1975: From the Associated Press

Clela Rorex smiles as she watches the national debate unfold over same-sex marriage, knowing she's seen it all before.

After all, the former Boulder County clerk and recorder issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples back in 1975.

San Francisco's mayor may be provoking a national debate by issuing marriage licenses to hundreds of gay and lesbian couples, but Rorex knows they are not the first such licenses ever issued. ...

As a newly elected political rookie in 1975, Rorex was approached by a same-sex couple who asked if she would issue a marriage license. After securing a legal opinion from the Boulder County district attorney at the time, who said state law did not preclude issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Rorex issued the license.

"I issued licenses because I didn't want to be legislating morality," Rorex said, adding she knew little about homosexuality at the time and did not know many gay people.

Once the media latched onto the issue, though, hate mail and calls from state politicians started pouring in, Rorex said.

As word spread, more gay couples came to her asking for licenses, and she would grant them. She said she issued licenses to about a half dozen gay couples in early 1975.

Legislators asked for a legal opinion from the state attorney general at the time, J.D. MacFarlane. He said Sunday that his office drafted an opinion that state law was clear on the issue, and that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

Soon after, Rorex stopped issuing licenses, especially after a man came in trying to get a license for himself and his horse, Dolly. Rorex told him the horse was too young to get married without parental consent.

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posted by Eve at 12:26 AM VOTE

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