So much has been going on in the courts this summer regarding same-sex marriage in Colorado, it’s hard to keep track of what counties are still issuing same-sex marriage licenses, the legality of any same-sex marriages, and where we go from here. Below, we’ve broken down the news from general information into county by county details.

Regionally:

On June 25, 2014, The 10th Circuit Court ruled Utah’s same-sex marriage ban struck down. At this point in time, it is likely Utah will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court

Judge Lucero said, “We cannot imagine a scenario under which recognizing same-sex marriages would affect the decision of a member of an opposite-sex couple to have a child, to marry or stay married to a partner, or to make personal sacrifices for a child.”

On July 23, U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Moore found Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, essentially tying the fate of the ban to Utah’s same-sex marriage ban decision awaiting appeal in the Supreme Court.

Locally:

Boulder County

June 25, the same day as the  10th Circuit Court’s decision regarding Utah, Boulder County clerk Hilary Hall announced that she would begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately. She took the marriage decision at its word, ignoring the stay on the Utah decision, and many same-sex couples have received marriage licenses since her bold decision.

Following this turn of events, Governor Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers urged Colorado courts to find the same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, so other counties would be comfortable issuing licenses as well, and Colorado itself could avoid confusion with state-wide decisions.

On July 10, Boulder District Court Judge Andrew Hartman rejected a request from Suthers to halt same-sex marriages in Boulder County until the Supreme Court decision. He found that Suthers did not meet the burden of proof that showed same-sex marriage licenses were harmful in any way for couples or for Colorado. 

July 23 marked another blow to Suthers’s attempts to halt Boulder county from issuing same-sex marriage licenses: Judge Hartman rejected his request yet again.

On July 29, Colorado Supreme Court halted the issuing of same-sex marriage licenses from Boulder County.

Denver County

Denver County Clerk Debra Johnson, motivated by the decision by the Boulder District Court rejecting Suthers’s halt request, began to issue same-sex marriage licenses on July 10. Mayor Michael B. Hancock voiced his support behind her decision.

On July 18, the Colorado Supreme Court decided in favor of Attorney General Suthers and halted Denver County’s issuing of same-sex marriage licenses. Following the decision, the high court contacted Debra Johnson with the order. Johnson stated that she was disappointed by the ruling but would respect the decision.

Denver County will be halted from issuing same-sex marriage licenses until the same-sex marriage ban in Colorado has been lifted.

Pueblo County

Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz began issuing same-sex marriage licenses July 11, tagging along with Denver following the July 10 decision in Boulder.

After the Supreme Court decision, ending the issuing of same-sex licenses in Denver, Pueblo county stopped issuing licenses as well, though they were not ordered to do so by the court. They halted at 1pm July 21 after Attorney General Suthers threatened Pueblo county with a lawsuit.

Ortiz vented with a tweet, “I believe that Suthers is on the wrong side of history and my office is reluctantly ceasing to issue licenses as of this afternoon.”