U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has designated the Boulder County Courthouse in Colorado as a National Historic Landmark. The building is now recognized as being the location where the first same-sex marriage license in the United States was issued, another milestone in the battle for marriage equality.
Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex, after consulting with the assistant district attorney, issued the historic marriage license on March 26, 1975, as there was no law in Colorado against gay marriages. Rorex's act marked a step in a nationwide conversation on marriage equality that was to place the courthouse in the heart of a civil rights movement. Over the next few weeks, she issued five more marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which drew national media attention to Boulder as a leader in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Years later, Rorex considered the decision. She said her strong feeling was about equal rights: "After having been so deeply involved in the women's rights movements, who was I to then deny a right to anyone else? It wasn't my job to legislate morality."
Boulder was a highly polarized city in terms of gay rights, and the concept of same-sex marriage was hardly talked about at that time. In fact, Rorex, seeing it as related to the women's rights movement, felt no legal basis to bar the licenses. She started a very much needed debate on equality issues, though she was later stopped from issuing licenses by the state's attorney general, J.D. MacFarlane.
The Board of Commissioners in Boulder County praised the courthouse's new National Historic Landmark status. They noted that diversity is one of the strengths of the community. Commissioner Claire Levy commented, "Our community includes people of many races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, and professions, and we consider this diversity an asset that enriches the lives of all of our residents."
Commissioner Marta Loachamin added that the courthouse being a National Historic Landmark is particularly important in today's political climate where many Americans feel marginalized. It reinforces the commitment of the United States to justice and equality for all, she said.