COLORADO: County Clerk Won’t Stop Issuing Licenses Until Court Makes Her

Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall is continuing to issue marriage licenses today in defiance of her state Attorney General.

Despite warnings from Colorado Attorney General John Suthers that the documents aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, same-sex couples lined up at the Boulder County Clerk’s office Thursday morning to get marriage licenses. Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall began issuing the “invalid” marriage licenses to same-sex couples Wednesday after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Utah’s ban on gay marriage. But in a news release akin to a fraud advisory, Suthers made it clear that the licenses are not valid. “That’s their opinion. We disagree with it,” Hall said Thursday morning. “We will be here issuing marriage licenses until a Colorado court or the Supreme Court tells us to desist.” Andie Lyons, 32, and her partner were one of about 10 couples in line at the Boulder City and County building when the doors opened at 8 a.m. Thursday. Lyons knows what Suthers said but said it was still worth $30 for the license.

Yesterday Hall declared that the Tenth Circuit Court ruling in the Utah case, which has been stayed, applies to Colorado.