ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Miriam Rand and Ono Porter were having lunch when the couple got a call that they’d been waiting for, for three decades: New Mexico’s Supreme Court had just issued a ruling on same-sex marriage.

But they didn’t have the details.

The plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage case finished their meal and then began checking their phones for updates. They soon started receiving congratulations from friends and family. The state’s highest court declared it was unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

“I was thrilled,” Porter said Thursday, hours after the court decision was announced. “It is most meaningful in terms of really affirming our love and commitment to one another.”

Barring couples like Porter, 67, and Rand, 64, from getting married violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution, the court ruled.

“We hold that the State of New Mexico is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry and must extend to them the rights, protections and responsibilities that derive from civil marriage under New Mexico law,” Justice Edward Chavez wrote.

With that ruling, New Mexico joined 16 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay marriage either through legislation, court rulings or voter referendums in a trend that has dramatically shifted in just a few years nationally.

Before the ruling, eight of New Mexico’s 33 counties had already started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

County officials asked the high court to clarify the law and establish a uniform state policy on gay marriage.