No marriage equality in NM or RI. What gives?
My best understanding (without digging too much into each state's statutes) is that at least two states, New Mexico and Rhode Island, do not have any laws expressly prohibiting marriages between people of the same sex. And yet neither of these states allows same-sex couples to marry.
In New Mexico in 2004, this was tested by a county clerk who started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She was promptly shut down by the attorney general and a local judge, but no one appears able to point to a law that justifies their actions. In Rhode Island, they seem to have decided that marriages between same-sex couples contracted elsewhere would be recognized, but again, no law specifically bars these marriages from being contracted within Rhode Island's borders.
My source is this Wikipedia article. This article lists the statutes and/or constitutional provisions addressing marriage in each state, but New Mexico and Rhode Island are conspicuously bare. The corresponding Wikipedia articles for each state confirm this. (I know Wikipedia itself isn't a reliable source, but I've deemed this particular info to be accurate.)
In my mind, if the law doesn't prohibit something, then that something is implicitly allowed. New Mexico and Rhode Island don't allow same-sex couples to marry, but for no legalistic reason I can discern. This completely baffles me. Can anyone explain this?
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Regardless of the absence of a specific statute, state law is often guided by judicial precedent, common law, and AG guidance. A similar situation is self-defense law in Maryland -- there is no statutory basis for making a self-defense claim, but they are valid, as state courts have decided that they are an element of the common law. Most likely, NM and RI marriage policies have not been challenged, or have been held by courts to apply only to hetero couples.
Justia is awesome for looking up these things when Wikipedia won't do. 
