Pueblo county threatened with lawsuit, halts same-sex marriages

Pueblo county no longer issues same-sex marriage licenses after a lawsuit threat (and cease and desist) from Attorney General John Suthers. The halt came at 1pm on Monday, July 21.

Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz tweeted, “I believe that Suthers is on the wrong side of history and my office is reluctantly ceasing to issue licenses as of this afternoon.”

Pueblo County will be following up with further comment with a press release. Ortiz said, “I’m putting all of my anger on paper right now.”

In response to Pueblo County, Suthers’ office issued the following statement:

“This afternoon the Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder at the request of the Attorney General discontinued issuance of same-sex marriage licenses. In doing so, we’ve been able to avoid further wasteful litigation.

We are gratified that Clerk Ortiz has recognized that he needs to be on the right side of the law. No matter one’s views on the issue of same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court of Colorado has made clear that until it has had a chance to rule on the merits, clerks must enforce the state’s laws, which are still in effect.”