Judges In 51 Of Alabama’s 67 Counties Refusing To Issue Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couples

Can it really be called “marriage equality” when more than three-quarters of the state refuses to allow same-sex couples to marry?

Same-sex marriage came Alabama Monday, after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not grant a delay just as probate judges offices were readying to open. That is, some probate judges. In 51 of Alabama’s 67 counties, some probate judges kept their offices closed, some refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples, some refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and some, just 16 at most, were open for business as the law requires.

State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who Sunday night ordered probate judges to defy federal law and not issue licenses to same-sex couples, boasted in a CNN report Tuesday, “Here in this state we’ve taken a stand.”

LOOK: First Same-Sex Couple Marries In Alabama (Photos)

That stand, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says, at some point will have to be removed by federal judges. “This is the modern equivalent of George Wallace blocking the schoolhouse door,” Toobin says, “and just like George Wallace, Judge Moore is going to lose this battle too.”

In Russell County, Probate Judge Alford Parden turned away same-sex couples, but not different-sex couples, claiming he considers Moore’s directive a binding order from the state’s highest court.

Probate Judge Hardy McCollum in Tuscaloosa County not only turned away a same-sex couple, but instead of handing them a marriage license he handed them a copy of Moore’s letter.

Plaintiffs Monday filed a motion with federal Judge Callie Granade, who overturned Alabama’s ban, to compel Mobile County probate judge Don Davis to open his doors and marry same-sex couples. Granade denied the motion because he was not named in the original lawsuit.

On his Facebook page, Judge Moore announced Monday night Granade’s denial “vindicates” him. 

Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen disagrees, telling the Washington Blade he’s hoping obstructionists are “the last gasp of bigotry.”

 

 

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