• Civil marriage equality in effect at the state level since 2013. (Same-sex couples may legally marry.)
• Same-sex marriage is still forbidden in the Navajo Nation by the Diné Marriage Act of 2005.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• In February 2004, during the Winter of Love, a number of marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in Sandoval County.
• New Mexico's marriage equality history is unique. In August 2013, Lynn Ellins, County Clerk of Dona Ana County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. One-by-one district judges began ordering other county clerks to issue licenses to same-sex couples. Eventually the county clerks through-out the state voted unanimously to ask the New Mexico Supreme Court to rule on the legality of same-sex marriage, for the entire state. In written arguments filed with the court in July, the state Attorney General Gary King, told the court he believed that a prohibition on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and that he would not defend the stat's ban. The NM Supreme Court held a hearing on their petition on 23 October 2013. On 19 December 2013, the NM Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Griego v. Oliver holding that marriage licenses must be issued to couples without respect to gender, making New Mexico the 17th state to legalize same-sex marriage.