A D.C. marriage clerk thought New Mexico was a foreign country

First, Gavin Clarkson lost his bid to be New Mexico's secretary of state. Then, he had to prove his state even existed.

Clarkson, a short-lived former member of the Trump administration's Interior Department, was trying to marry his now-wife in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago. The marriage clerk didn't question the Argentinian-born Marina, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen. But she did think Clarkson's New Mexico driver's license meant he wasn't from the U.S., Clarkson told the Las Cruces Sun News.

After Clarkson presented his New Mexico license at a D.C. marriage bureau, the clerk asked for a "New Mexico passport," Clarkson wrote in a Facebook post. It then took a supervisor — who at first didn't believe Clarkson either — and another 20 minutes to figure out New Mexico was indeed a state and grant Clarkson his marriage license. Clarkson is also a member of the Choctaw Nation, and said "apparently it would have been easier if I'd shown [the clerk] my tribal ID."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A public relations official from Washington's court system later apologized for the clerk's "mistake regarding New Mexico's 106-year history as a state" in a call to the Sun News.

It turns out this marriage clerk is far from the only person who needs a basic geography lesson. New Mexico Magazine has compiled thousands of times have had to defend their home's existence, and you can read them all here.