DENVER — Colorado’s Pueblo County is now issuing marriage licenses to gay couples after the U.S. Supreme Court turned away appeals on the question of same-sex wedding bans.
The decision from county Clerk Bo Ortiz comes after Republican Attorney General John Suthers said Monday his office “will file motions to expedite the lifting of the stays” in federal and state courts.
Suthers has yet to advise clerks if they can begin issuing licenses, but Ortiz says there was never a court order against Pueblo to delay.
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Ortiz was one of three county clerks in Colorado who issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the 10th Circuit Court struck down marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma.
Colorado was among six states bound by the same appellate rulings that the Supreme Court declined to review, meaning the lower-court rulings striking gay-marriage bans now stand.
The justices on Monday did not comment in rejecting appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Colorado voters banned gay marriage in 2006.
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