RBC I Rio Blanco County is not currently issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Rio Blanco County Clerk Nancy Amick said Monday.
“Because the issue still seems to be up in the air, we are waiting to see what happens,” Amick said. “At this point, we have not been asked to issue such a license; in fact, we haven’t even been contacted to see if we would issue a same-sex marriage license.”
Amick said she has inquired of Rio Blanco County Attorney Kent Borchard what the county should do, and that it has been decided to wait for the issue to be fully resolved before acting one way or the other.
“Whatever the bottom line is and how the courts finally end up ruling, we will follow the law,” she said.
Boulder began issuing same-sex marriage licenses about a month ago, following a ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, located in Denver, claiming that a ban on single-sex marriages in Utah was no longer constitutional.
The Boulder city clerk decided that even though it was a Utah case, it was decided in Colorado, which is part of the area affected by the 10th Circuit Court, and that an end to the ban in Utah would also be an end to the ban in Colorado.
She then started issuing marriage licenses and is still doing so despite a declaration by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who contends that the ruling in the Utah case has no bearing in Colorado.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has stated all along that the Colorado same-sex marriage licenses are not valid in the state. As recently as last week, the city clerks in Denver and Pueblo county have decided on their own to join with Boulder County to start issuing the licenses.
Suthers has appealed to the state’s high court for a clarification on the ruling, and that was still pending as of Tuesday with a ruling not expected within the next few days.
“We are acting in accord with the majority of Colorado’s counties and taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Amick said.
“Rio Blanco is one place where the same-sex issue is pretty quiet, and, at least for now, is pretty much a non-issue,” she said.
Amick reiterated that whatever the courts finally decide after all the publicity and all the court rulings, that the Rio Blanco County Clerk’s Office will follow those rulings and follow the law.
