Despite SCOTUS ruling, some Alabama counties give gay marriage licenses, others refuse
Nearly one-third of Alabama counties on Monday were not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, or had shut down marriage license operations altogether, despite Friday’s landmark U.S Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry. An Associated Press telephone survey of counties on Monday found that at least 32 of the state’s 67 counties were issuing the licenses to gay couples. However, at least 22 counties were not issuing the licenses, with many of those shutting down marriage license operations altogether as probate judges said they needed time to sort out the ruling. Rep. Patricia Todd, the state’s only openly gay lawmaker and the head of the Human Rights Campaign-Alabama, said the probate judges need to accept that the issue was settled with the U.S Supreme Court ruling that made gay marriage the law of the land. “It’s perplexing to me that they are not able to do their job,” Todd said. “Unfortunately, I think it’s probably going to continue until one gets sued and thousands of taxpayer dollars are spent on a lawsuit they are going to lose.” In March, in response to a request from two conservative groups, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges not to issue licenses to gay couples. On Monday, the court issued an order that noted a 25-day rehearing period for the landmark marriage ruling and asked the judges and the conservative groups to file motions “addressing the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision” on the March injunction by July 6. At least two probate judges pointed to the order from the state’s highest court to explain why they were not issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Randolph County Probate Judge George Diamond said he is waiting for the end of a 25-day appeal period before he begins issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Diamond said the county could begin sooner if it receives a directive from the state’s high court. “Right now my attorneys are telling us to hold off and see what this appeal is,” he said. Marion County Probate Judge Rocky Ridings said the county is not issuing same-sex marriage licenses after receiving the Alabama Supreme Court’s order. Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who recused himself from the Alabama marriage case because of his past statements, did not participate in Monday’s order. He did issue a separate statement, however, saying that “in no way does the order instruct probate judges of this State as to whether or not they should comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.” Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said probate judges could face court sanctions if they issue marriage licenses to heterosexual couples but refuse to give them to gay couples. “There is no justification for delaying or obstructing the clear message of the Supreme Court of the United States — marriage equality must begin in Alabama, and probate judges who stand in the way of that legal imperative risk exposing themselves to legal consequences,” Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said in a prepared statement. Some counties began granting the licenses to gay couples on Friday. More counties followed suit Monday after the Association of County Commissions of Alabama sent a memo advising probate judges to follow the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “We are going to issue a license to every couple that qualifies under the law,” Monroe County Probate Judge Greg Norris said. “We’re going to follow the law.” Shelby County began issuing same-sex marriage licenses on Monday, after delaying on Friday so that Probate Judge James Fuhrmeister could review the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. The delays won praise from some same-sex-marriage opponents. “Thank God that we have probate judges who stand for that which is right to keep their counties out of the principle of marrying that which God says cannot be married,” John Killian, pastor at Maytown Baptist Church, told a news conference in front of the Alabama Supreme Court building. State law says that probate judges “may” issue marriage licenses, meaning they aren’t required to issue them. Several judges have cited that provision as they ponder what to do. “I expect, in those counties, voters will get tired of having to drive to other counties to get marriage licenses,” Watson said. “That’s just ridiculous. It’s a hassle for everyone.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Committee votes to let adoption agencies refuse gay couples
A House Committee voted Wednesday for a bill that would allow private adoption agencies to turn away gay couples on religious grounds. The House State Government Committee approved the bill, which now moves to the House floor. The bill would not allow groups to be forced to participate in adoptions and foster care placements that violate their religious beliefs. It would prohibit the state from refusing to license, or contract with, agencies and children’s homes that refuse the services on religious grounds. Supporters said it is needed to protect faith-affiliated adoption agencies such as children’s homes linked with the Baptist and Catholic churches. “This would protect them so they would not be required to place children in homes when it violates their religious convictions,” said Joe Godfrey, executive director of the interdenominational Alabama Citizens Action Program and a supporter of the bill. Godfrey said a Catholic adoption agency in another state had to close rather than participate in a state requirement to let gay couples adopt. The bill called the “Alabama Child Care Provider Inclusion Act” is one of several religious freedom bills being taken up across the country as state gay marriage bans have fallen to federal court rulings. Similar adoption bills were debated in Michigan and Florida. The bill does not specifically mention homosexuality, but proponents said it is in anticipation of legalized same-sex marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether gays and lesbians have a right to marry nationwide. Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said the bill would legalize adoption discrimination — against a broad range of people — in the name of religion. “It’s like saying, ‘I don’t want to serve somebody black because I don’t like the way they look.’ It’s the same thing with this bill,” Rep. John Rogers, a Birmingham Democrat, said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Gay couples wed in once-reluctant Alabama county
The federal judge who overturned Alabama’s gay-marriage ban ordered a reluctant county to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, signaling to probate judges across the state that they should do the same. About an hour after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade’s ruling, Mobile County opened up its marriage license office and started granting the documents to gay couples. Gay-rights advocates said they hoped Granade’s order would smooth an uneven legal landscape where gay couples have been able to marry in some Alabama counties and not in others. However, it wasn’t immediately clear what other judges would do. At least 23 of Alabama’s 67 counties are issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Robert Povilat and his partner Milton Persinger were the first of several couples to get a marriage license in Mobile County. They wore camellia boutonnieres and exchanged vows in the atrium. “Ecstatic. Ecstatic. We’re married,” Povilat said. Randall Marshall, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said his group was ready to litigate the case county by county, if necessary. “We hope other probate judges will look at this and see they too could soon be a defendant in a lawsuit if they don’t start treating everybody equally,” Marshall said. Mobile and other counties had refused to issue the marriage licenses after Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told probate judges on Sunday they didn’t have to because they were not defendants in the original case. Moore has argued that Granade’s Jan. 23 ruling striking down the Bible Belt state’s gay-marriage ban was an illegal intrusion on Alabama’s sovereignty. Moore made a name for himself by fighting to keep a Ten Commandments monument at a courthouse, refusing to remove it even though a federal judge ordered him to. His resistance cost him his job, but he won re-election as chief justice in 2012. Moore was not at the brief hearing Granade held Thursday because he was . However, he was often the subject of the discussion. Marshall called Moore’s directive, sent hours before courthouses opened Monday, a “ploy” to stop gay marriage in Alabama. A telephone message left with Moore’s office was not immediately returned Thursday. Before the hearing, Moore was steadfast in his belief that the federal courts had intruded in the state’s sovereignty. “Once they start tampering with the definition of marriage which was given of God, there is no end to it,” he said. A long-time supporter of Moore’s, who watched the hearing, predicted that this would not be the end of the fight. Orange Beach businessman Dean Young dismissed the hearing as a “dog and pony show.” “Eighty-one percent of the people voted for a constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman,” Young said of the 2006 vote for a gay marriage ban. Michael Druhan, an attorney for Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis, said Davis closed marriage license operations altogether this week – even for heterosexual couples – rather than navigate what seemed like a legal minefield of conflicting directives. The number of states in which gay and lesbian couples can marry has nearly doubled since October, from 19 to 37, largely as a result of terse Supreme Court orders that allowed lower court rulings to become final and rejected state efforts to keep marriage bans in place pending appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in April and is expected to issue a ruling by June regarding whether gay couples nationwide have a fundamental right to marry and whether states can ban such unions. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
