Good Same-Sex Marriage News From Arizona, New Mexico, And (Even) Texas

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Some good and important news coming from three border — and bordering — southern states: Arizona, New Mexico, and (amazingly) even Texas.

First up: Arizona, where Republican Jan Brewer, perhaps best-known for wagging her finger at President Barack Obama on the tarmac, is being sued in her official capacity as governor, by four Arizona same-sex couples in a federal class-action lawsuit.

The Republic reports the couples’ attorney is using the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision to argue that Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, much in the same way same-sex couples in Utah last month won the right to marry — even if that ruling is now on hold.

“We are asking for relief on behalf of all married and unmarried same-sex couples in Arizona,” said attorney Shawn Aiken. “Now is the time to take up this issue.”

The couples in the Arizona case are: Joseph Connolly and Terrel Pochert, a Pinal County couple that has been together 18 years and was legally married in California in 2008; Suzanne Cummins and Holly Mitchell, a Maricopa County couple that has been together for seven years and have two children adopted through the state’s foster-care system; Clark Rowley and David Chaney, a Maricopa County couple that has been together for five years; and Mason Hite and Christopher Devine, a Maricopa County couple that has been together for 11 years, legally married in California in 2008 and have a child adopted through the state’s foster-care system.

 

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Next, New Mexico Republican governor Susana Martinez — the nation’s first female Hispanic governor — has announced she will not seek to overturn last month’s state Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in the Land of Enchantment.

Recognizing that same-sex marriage is “now the law of the land,” Gov. Martinez in a statement said that while “there will surely be intense debate about this decision moving forward,” she will “encourage New Mexicans to continue to respect one another in their discourse, as this is an important issue for many New Mexicans on both sides,” Edge on the Net reports.

“As we move forward, I am hopeful that we will not be divided, as we must come together to tackle very pressing issues, like reforming education and growing our economy, in the weeks and months ahead.”

And finally, could same-sex marriage be coming to Texas?

Two gay couples are suing the state of Texas, seeking to overturn the Lone Star state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

“Cleopatra de Leon and Nicole Dimetman of Austin married in Massachusetts but a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2005 prohibits Texas from recognizing their marriage,” On Top magazine reported last month. “The law also prevents San Antonio couple Victor Holmes and Mark Phariss from marrying. The couple was denied a marriage license in October.”

“Just as the judicial branch protected the fundamental right to marry and established that discriminatory laws could not prevent mixed-race couples from exercising that right, the courts again must step in to protect the marriage right,” Lane is previously quoted as saying.

Jonathan Saenz, president of the Christian conservative group Texas Values, described the lawsuit as “frivolous” in comments to AFA’s One News Now.

“Do laws mean anything to the homosexual advocates?” Saenz rhetorically asked. “It’s gotten to this point to where the only way they win is people don’t enforce the law. That kind of mob rule will not work, and it’s something that will be a disaster for our state and our country.”

“This is the definition of a frivolous lawsuit,” he added.

Freedom To Marry has a listing of marriage equality lawsuits in dozens of states across the country.