New Mexico has gone gay!

[Borgholio]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... e/4126659/

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's highest court has legalized same-sex marriage, declaring it is unconstitutional to deny a marriage license to gay and lesbian couples.

The state Supreme Court issued its ruling Thursday. New Mexico joins 16 states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay marriage.

Eight of the state's 33 counties have started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples since August, when a county clerk in southern New Mexico independently decided to allow the unions.

County officials asked the high court to clarify the law and establish a uniform state policy on gay marriage.

State statutes don't explicitly prohibit or authorize gay marriage. However, county clerks historically have denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples because the law includes a marriage license application with sections for male and female applicants.

[FaxModem1]

I am curious as to how this will affect the South, as this is essentially the first Southwest state(barring California) to have same sex marriage.

[Borgholio]

The Deep South will probably rave about how sin, corruption, liberals, and those damn homos are taking over the country.

I would expect the not-so Deep South to begin more open debates and discussions on the issue once they realize that gay marriage is not only becoming the norm, but also good for business.

[Kitsune]

Virginia polls have shown that it is willing to flip and there is a fight to get an amendment to overturn the one we have

Otherwise. . . .Fabulous

[Wicked Pilot]

I am curious as to how this will affect the South, as this is essentially the first Southwest state(barring California) to have same sex marriage.

Doubt it will, as NM really isn't considered part of that demographic.

I would imagine with NM's heavy Hispanic and presumably Catholic population this wouldn't be very popular. Though that's not much more that an uninformed assumption on my part, Hispanics aren't the Borg.

[Knife]

I disagree, I wonder how many Utahn's, Texan's, and Arizonians will go there to get hitched. Once they have a marriage license, curious how many will push for benefits in their states.

[Imperial Overlord]

I am curious as to how this will affect the South, as this is essentially the first Southwest state(barring California) to have same sex marriage.

Doubt it will, as NM really isn't considered part of that demographic.

I would imagine with NM's heavy Hispanic and presumably Catholic population this wouldn't be very popular. Though that's not much more that an uninformed assumption on my part, Hispanics aren't the Borg.

Hispanics actually have positions on gay rights that are consistently slightly better than whites, despite being heavily Catholic.

[Kitsune]

They are better on social welfare as well I believe?

[Imperial Overlord]

They are better on social welfare as well I believe?

I think that's correct as well. It's been a year since I saw those polls and I was looking at them with regard to gay rights so I'm not 100% on it.

[Civil War Man]

I would imagine with NM's heavy Hispanic and presumably Catholic population this wouldn't be very popular. Though that's not much more that an uninformed assumption on my part, Hispanics aren't the Borg.

Depends on the Catholicism. Going by a recent study of the 2010 census, the 10 most Catholic states are Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, California, and Lousiana. With the New Mexico ruling, that leaves Pennsylvania and Louisiana as the only two states in that list that still have active bans on same sex marriage (though Illinois's law doesn't take effect until 2014).

Meanwhile, the 10 least Catholic states are Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Utah, and Georgia. Out of that list, West Virginia is the only one that doesn't have their same sex marriage ban incorporated in their state constitution.

It's true that the Catholic church has historically been a major opponent to the acceptance of same sex marriage, but that doesn't necessarily translate to opposition from the lay population. In fact, a lot of the states that show up on the list as Most Catholic also show up high on the list of Least Religious. Plus, depending on how successful Francis is in moderating the Vatican's platform on a lot of issues, that opposition from the church hierarchy may start to weaken.