A second New Mexico county on Friday began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Forty-nine couples rushed to the Santa Fe County administrative building in downtown Santa Fe following news that a judge had ordered County Clerk Geraldine Salazar to issue marriage licenses regardless of sexual orientation.

Santa Fe County Commissioner Liz Stefanics and Linda Siegle, a lobbyist for LGBT rights advocate Equality New Mexico, were the first to reach Salazar's office shortly after 1:30 PM, according to the AP.

The couple inquired whether they were still denying licenses to gay couples.

“Not today,” Salazar replied.

Next in line were Alexander Hanna and Yon Hudson, the couple who were denied a marriage license in July and filed the lawsuit which resulted in Friday's court order.

“It's exhilarating and also humbling,” Hudson said.

Salazar kept the office open until 7:30 PM to accommodate the crowd.

She cheered the court's ruling: “I have been frustrated recently wanting to issue licenses but being confronted with longstanding statutes that do not permit it.”

The move came two days after Dona Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. And a day after the state's highest court ruled that a business could not discriminate against same-sex couples.

“After so many years of seeing these couples have their hopes raised, then dashed, it is so rewarding to see progress finally coming,” Pat Davis of ProgressNow New Mexico said in a statement.

(Related: New Mexico Republicans to sue clerk issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.)

Santa Fae Attorney General Geno Zamora said earlier in a legal memo that he believes gay couples can legally marry in New Mexico.

“New Mexico's statutory definition of marriage is gender-neutral. Since New Mexico does not define marriage as between a man and a woman, and since New Mexico does not prohibit same-sex marriage, same-sex marriage is permitted in New Mexico,” Zamora wrote.

His opinion was the impetus behind a resolution approved by the Santa Fe City Council declaring such unions legal in the state and urging county clerks to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

In a filing to the case, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King, a Democrat who is planning a bid for governor, called New Mexico's prohibition unconstitutional. He has also refused to take legal action to stop the Dona Ana county clerk from issuing additional licenses to gay couples.