Clela Rorex

Clela Ann Rorex (July 23, 1943 – June 19, 2022) was an American county clerk who issued the first same-sex marriage license in the United States. Serving as the Boulder County Clerk, Rorex issued a marriage license to a gay couple in 1975 after receiving approval from the District Attorney.

Early life Clela Rorex was born in Denver on July 23, 1943, and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She was adopted at an early age by Ruby and Cecil Rorex who was the county clerk for Routt County, Colorado, for 30 years.

Same-sex marriage licenses Rorex had been clerk for three months when two men, Dave McCord and Dave Zamora, came to the clerk's office to apply for a marriage license. They had originally applied in Colorado Springs, where they were told to go to Boulder; El Paso County did not do "that type of thing."

After Rorex inquired into the legality of issuing the license, District Attorney Alex Hunter and first assistant DA Bill Wise wrote an opinion stating that Colorado law did not specify whether marriage must be between a man and a woman. Rorex was told it was within her legal right to decide if she wanted to issue the license or not. She issued five more same-sex marriage licenses in Boulder In June 2018, Boulder replaced an image of Roswell "Ross" Howard and his horse, Dolly, with a photo of Rorex. After Rorex issued same-sex marriage licenses, Howard showed up at the courthouse with Dolly and asked for a license to marry his horse.