Clela Ann Rorex (July 23, 1943 – June 19, 2022) was an American

county clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

who issued the first same-sex marriage license in the United States. Serving as the

Boulder County Boulder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 330,758. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises th ...

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 The City of Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Sta ...

. She was adopted at an early age by Ruby and Cecil Rorex who was the

for Routt County, Colorado, for 30 years.

Education and early career

Rorex attended the University of Colorado on a Methodist scholarship and earned a bachelor's degree. She later earned a second degree in legal administration from the University of Denver. She then married a naval officer and spent three years with him while he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before returning to Boulder. After working a few summers in her father's office, Rorex decided to run for

of Boulder County, Colorado, when the incumbent, Henry Putnam, announced his retirement. She decided to run after attending a meeting in which members of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

stated that they "needed a man" to run against the female Republican candidate. Rorex shared her frustrations over hearing this with women in a feminist group she was a member of, and decided that she would run for clerk. She was elected and took office in 1975 at age 31. Henry Putnam would not vacate the office and was removed by the sheriff's office.

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. Rorex issued the license on March 26, 1975. She issued five more same-sex marriage licenses in Boulder before the Colorado Attorney General ordered her to stop. She received hate mail and angry phone calls. The Boulder County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in part because of the marriage licenses Rorex issued. 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. Rorex said she declined his request on the basis that his eight-year-old horse was underage, and could not marry without written consent from her parents.

Backlash

Rorex resigned from office about two and a half years into her term. She married and moved to California. Rorex never held elected office again.

Later career

Rorex returned to Colorado after her marriage and obtained a degree in legal administration from the University of Denver. She worked as a legal administrator for the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder for 18 years. After retiring around 2011, she spoke at public schools on panels composed of people of different gender identities. She considered herself an "ally for gay rights and marriage equality".

Personal life and death

Rorex was married and divorced three times, and had three children. She died on June 19, 2022, at the age of 78 at a hospice care facility in Longmont, Colorado, from complications of an infection following surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rorex, Clela 1943 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Colorado Democrats County clerks in Colorado Infectious disease deaths in Colorado American LGBT rights activists People from Steamboat Springs, Colorado Politicians from Denver Same-sex marriage in the United States University of Colorado alumni University of Denver alumni Women in Colorado politics