PUEBLO, Colo. — Boulder County is the last remaining county in Colorado still issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after Pueblo County stopped issuing the licenses Monday afternoon.
KUSA-TV reports that Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday afternoon after receiving a cease and desist letter from state Attorney General John Suthers, threatening to sue Pueblo County.
“I believe that Suthers is on the wrong side of history and my office is reluctantly ceasing to issue licenses as of this afternoon,” Ortiz wrote in a tweet.
He said further comment would be coming in the form of a press release: “I’m putting all of my anger on paper right now.”
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On Friday, the Colorado Supreme Court ordered that Denver and Adams counties must stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses, but the order stopped short of demanding the same from Pueblo and Boulder counties as they were not named as defendants in a state court challenge to Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban.
Meanwhile, Suthers tried and failed to get a district court judge to impose a restraining order against Boulder while his lawsuit against Boulder Clerk Hillary Hall is heard.
A district judge ruled in Hall’s favor this month, allowing same-sex marriage licenses to continue. Boulder has issued 172 licenses to same-sex couples over the past month. Hall began issuing the licenses in late June after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled on Utah’s ban, saying states cannot prevent people from marrying based on their gender.
