colorado's gay marriage fight echoes drama in 1975

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE_BOULDER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-09-03-12-22

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- Nearly 40 years ago, a newly elected, miniskirt-wearing feminist in Colorado stumbled into history when a gay couple denied a marriage license sought her help instead.

While the college town of Boulder has a liberal reputation now, it was deeply divided over gay rights in 1975, and few, including Clela Rorex, had thought about same-sex couples marrying. Seeing a parallel with the women's movement and finding nothing in the law to prevent it, the 31-year-old county clerk agreed and granted a total of six licenses to gay couples before the state's attorney general at the time ordered her to stop.

Now, as the courts across the U.S. rule in support of gay marriage, a clerk in the very same county finds herself in a similar position.

Hillary Hall has issued more than 100 marriage licenses to same-sex couples ever since a federal appeals court based in Denver found that states cannot ban gay marriage last month. That ruling was put on hold pending an appeal, and Colorado's gay marriage ban, passed by voters in 2006, remains on the books.

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