‘We want to be able to care for each other’

Supporters rally at SF city hall for gay marriage resolution

Santa Fe City Hall was awash in red Wednesday night as marriage equality advocates showed up to express support for a city resolution proclaiming gay marriage legal in New Mexico and urging action on the issue.

The count included Santa Feans Kristie Neslen, 57, and Joanne Griffin, 76. The couple got engaged 25 years ago, but said they’re still waiting to get married in their home state.

“We’re increasingly of an age where we need to be taking care of each other and we need to have the means to take care of each other, medically, estate-wise, you name it,” Neslen told the Journal.

Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, with City Councilors Rebecca Wurzburger and Patti Bushee behind him, speaks to supporters of a resolution that Coss, Bushee and two other councilors have introduced recognizing gay marriage as legal in New Mexico. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

“We need to be able to take care of each other the way any other couples can do that. This is why we want to be married. We want to be able to care for each other. At this point, we’re legally strangers,” she said.

Griffin and Neslen and dozens of other people crowded into Wednesday’s City Council meeting to speak on the gay marriage resolution during a general public comment session.

The resolution was unveiled last week by Mayor David Coss and Councilor Patti Bushee, and it was formally introduced Wednesday. It will be voted on April 24.

The resolution asks the state’s county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and asks Attorney General Gary King to weigh in on the issue, something King has already said he intends to do.

Councilors Ron Trujillo and Chris Calvert have also signed on as sponsors.

Trujillo, speaking at a small rally organized around the meeting by the Human Rights Campaign – which has, with gay marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court this week, encouraged supporters to adopt the color red – said he and his wife have many gay friends and family members “in committed relationships who are raising children and are productive members of society.”

“Why shouldn’t they enjoy the same protection and equality as the rest of us?” Trujillo said.

The first person to speak on the gay marriage resolution during the public comment period was Santa Fean Kim Kiel. Kiel and partner Rose Griego, along with an Albuquerque lesbian couple, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations, filed a lawsuit last week after the Bernalillo County clerk denied them a marriage license.

Kiel encouraged the city of Santa Fe to file an amicus brief in the couple’s case. “We would appreciate your support,” she said.

Other speakers, most of whom identified as gay, said they deserve the right to get married and enjoy its accompanying privileges.

“We do work hard in this community. We give back to this community. We pay taxes. … We support everything Santa Fe is about,” Gayle Kenny said.

Several people said that legalizing gay marriage will lessen the stigma many now associate with being gay, helping gay youngsters and teenagers who are struggling with their sexual identity.

“This has been a journey, a civil rights journey. We are at the forefront of that with this resolution,” Jon Landstrom said.

A small group voiced opposition to gay marriage.

Jose Vasquez said if the resolution had been better advertised – it wasn’t on the council’s Wednesday agenda because it was being introduced, not discussed – the building would have been filled “with people of holy faith.”

Vasquez drew sustained jeers when he declared that “the reason they can’t marry is because they can’t give back to society … one word, babies.”

Councilor Chris Rivera is the only Santa Fe elected official to so far indicate he plans to vote against Coss and Bushee’s resolution. Others have said they will abstain or are still undecided.

“I’m a traditional Christian and I’m against this,” Rivera told the Journal.