Even before the passage of Proposition 102 (Arizona’s constitutional marriage amendment), same sex marriages were not authorized in Arizona. To my knowledge, a marriage license has never been issued in Arizona to a same-sex couple. Nevertheless, at least pre-Prop 102, Arizona recognized all marriages that were validly entered in another state. For example, in Arizona there are no common-law marriages. But a common law marriage validly established between a man and a woman in another state was recognized as a marriage in Arizona if and when that couple moved here.
This “full faith and credit” concept applied at least to some degree even to out-of-State same sex marriages. Before Prop 102, it was generally believed that a same sex marriage validly entered in another state could at least be annulled in Arizona.
With the passage of Prop. 102, however, it is not clear whether an Arizona court would find it had jurisdiction even to annul the same sex marriage. By the passage of Prop 102, Arizona’s Constitution has been amended to read as follows: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.” If a same sex marriage validly entered in another state is not recognized in Arizona, does Arizona even have jurisdiction to annul the marriage as “voidable”? How can Arizona void a union it does not recognize?
A court in Texas, a state with a constitutional marriage amendment similar to Arizona’s, recently held that Texas courts have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce to a same-sex married couple, even if the marriage was valid in the state where the couple wed. That Texas decision has no binding authority in Arizona, but it could indicate how Arizona courts will rule on this issue. I am not aware of any reported Arizona cases on this issue so far, but I’m sure we will eventually see some Arizona case law on this.