By KRWG News
New Mexico – Attorney General Gary King says out-of-state same-sex marriages likely will be valid in New Mexico.
King reached that conclusion in a nonbinding legal opinion issued Tuesday, but cautioned there's no way to predict how New Mexico courts would rule on the same-sex marriage question.
The Democratic attorney general said 40 states prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages but not New Mexico.
He said there's a legal doctrine in New Mexico that considers an out-of-state marriage valid unless it's contrary to a strong public policy.
Former Attorney General Patricia Madrid issued an advisory letter in 2004 that New Mexico law limits marriage to a man and a woman.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.