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

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

who issued the first same-sex

marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictions ...

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. In December 2024, it was reported that the building that conducted the first

to a same-sex couple by Rorex became officially a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

Early life

Clela Rorex was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

on July 23, 1943, and raised in

Steamboat Springs, Colorado Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 13,224 at the 2020 census. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Ste ...

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

for

Routt County, Colorado Routt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,829. The county seat is Steamboat Springs. Routt County comprises the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. History ...

, for 30 years.

Education and early career

Rorex attended the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

on a Methodist scholarship and earned a bachelor's degree. She later earned a second degree in legal administration from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

. 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

Boulder County, Colorado 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 ...

, when the incumbent, Henry Putnam, announced his retirement. She decided to run after attending a meeting in which members of the Democratic Party 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 The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the United States, U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Government of Colorado, Colorado state g ...

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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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

. She worked as a legal administrator for the

Native American Rights Fund The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is a non-profit organization, based in Boulder, Colorado, that uses existing laws and treaties to ensure that U.S. state governments and the U.S. federal government live up to their legal obligations. NARF ...

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 women politicians Colorado Democrats County clerks in Colorado Infectious disease deaths in Colorado American LGBTQ 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 20th-century Colorado politicians