For anyone seeking Equal Rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans persons, the climate out there looks pretty grim at the moment, but there are bright spots to be sure. Consider New Mexico:

The marriage of gay couples from other states and countries where it is allowed can be legally recognized in New Mexico, the Attorney General’s Office said in a legal opinion issued Tuesday.

“A comprehensive legal analysis by my office concludes that valid same-sex marriages in other states would likely be valid in New Mexico,” Attorney General Gary King said.

This story is interesting for a few reasons even though, it isn’t in itself a big victory for Marriage Equality. In some regards, it isn’t anything except an opinion issued by a State Attorney General’s office. Opinions are like… how does that saying go? But if you look past that, this is actually an extremely important development.

First, it lays out a clear and logical justification for why states can recognize the legal same-sex marriages from other states.  That alone is a priceless development. When talking about same-sex marriage, it is often a muddy subject where the religious and the civil collide or overlap. Since marriage can be either civil or religious, or both, it is inevitable that the issues of one cloud the discourse around the other. For example, recently, a Marriage Equality activist told me that there was no way to talk about same-sex marriage without also talking about making churches perform same-sex marriages. To me, this forced connection impedes the acceptance of civil marriage as a legal right. But when discussing, a state’s recognition of a same-sex marriage in another state, the dialogue is free from the religious discourse. The state’s interests in marriage are fully different from the cultural or personal reasons for marriage, and it is easier to focus on these legal/ civil issues.

Some may see the need to get all 50 states to approve same-sex marriage before it is of much use. But in reality, we don’t need every state to accept same-sex marriage licenses. We do need to develop multiple states that either grant same-sex marriage licenses or recognize them. As a network of such states grow, it will merely be a matter of time before same-sex marriage is accepted everywhere.

The attorney general’s opinion, written by Elaine Lujan, says, “the federal (Defense of Marriage Act) authorizes states to prohibit the recognition of out-of-state, same-sex marriages. While many states have enacted such a prohibition, New Mexico has not.”

Lujan noted that the attorney general in Maryland recently opined on the issue and concluded, “Maryland would likely recognize an out-of-state, same-sex marriage despite a state law that precludes same-sex marriage.” Maryland has a law prohibiting same-sex marriage.

The opinion cites a New Mexico child-custody case regarding a man who was married to his niece in Costa Rica.

“The Court concluded that New Mexico’s public policy against incestuous marriages was not sufficiently strong to preclude the District Court from considering the uncle-niece marriage in its custody award,” Lujan wrote.

She also said the state Supreme Court upheld the recognition of a common-law marriage of a Texas couple, even though New Mexico doesn’t have common-law marriages.

via AG: Other states’ same-sex marriages valid in N.M. – The Santa Fe New Mexican.