Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex couples have the same constitutional rights and responsibilities of marriage as different-sex couples do, Alabama Republican state Senator Greg Albritton has worked to eliminate marriage licenses altogether.
On Thursday, the Alabama Senate took a big step toward recognizing Senator Albritton’s dream.
In a unanimous 26-0 vote, as Rocket City Now reports, lawmakers passed a bill that would eliminate marriage licenses altogether – and, to the Republican Senator’s point – eliminate the need for probate judges to issue the licenses to same-sex couples.
Even four years after same-sex couples have been legally marrying across the country, some probate judges in Alabama are still refusing to issue licenses. Albritton’s bill, should it become law, would take away any possible discomfort for these anti-gay judges.
As of last June at least eight Alabama counties were not issuing marriage licenses at all, according to AL.com.
Couples instead would merely fill out a form at their local courthouse, but it would not be a “license.”
It is possible the bill, should it become law, could be ruled unconstitutional, as the intent behind it clearly is discriminatory.
“As a believing Christian, Greg Albritton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” Senator Albritton’s campaign website states. “Being a life-long conservative, Greg strongly supports the clear Constitutional rights as originally written. These include the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms, to worship God without government interference, and the right to private property ownership.”
But his campaign website also points to a bill he refused to support that would require “mandatory reporting of known or suspected child abuse or neglect.” Albritton says “I voted against this bill because it threatened the freedom of the clergy.”
In 2018 Sen. Albritton ran unopposed. No Democrat challenged him.
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