This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A District of Columbia clerk refused to accept a New Mexico man’s state driver’s license for a marriage license because she and her supervisor believed New Mexico was a foreign country.

Gavin Clarkson told the Las Cruces Sun-News the bizarre episode took place Nov. 20 at the District of Columbia Courts Marriage Bureau as he tried to apply for a marriage license in the nation’s capital.

Clarkson, who is Native American, said the clerk told him that he’d need an international passport to get the marriage license.

The District of Columbia clerk finally concluded New Mexico was a state after Clarkson objected three times and granted the license to Clarkson and his fiancee.

The D.C. courts system acknowledged the staff error to the Sun-News.

New Mexico was admitted into the U.S. as a state in 1912.