same-sex marriage Archives

Bill to get the state out of the marriage business heads to Kay Ivey

After some conservative Alabama probate judges stopped issuing marriage licenses over the issue of same-sex marriage, state lawmakers have come up with a workaround: marriage certificates that don’t have to be signed before the wedding by the judge. The bill, which won final approval Thursday, now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature. For several years a few conservative probate judges in Alabama have refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone so they don’t have to issue them to gay and lesbian couples. The House of Representatives voted 67-26 for the bill that would replace marriage licenses with a new form called a marriage certificate. Republican Sen. Greg Albritton, the sponsor of the bill, said he proposed the change so people can obtain marriage documents in every county. Rep. Neil Rafferty, the only openly gay member of the House, said the proposal was “born out of prejudice.” “It accommodates a handful of judges that couldn’t get their personal feelings, couldn’t check them those at the door and couldn’t do their jobs,” Rafferty, Democrat-Birmingham, said. Current Alabama law says probate judges “may” issue marriage, but doesn’t force them to do so. After same-sex couples obtained the legal right to marry, about a half dozen of Alabama’s 68 probate judges declined to issue licenses so they would not have to give them to gay couples. Rep. Wes Allen, a Republican from Pike County, was one of the judges who made that decision. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, as do a lot of Alabamians,” Allen said. Allen said he received “overwhelming” support in the county for his decision. Currently a judge signs a marriage license before a couple’s wedding. Allen said he viewed signing the form as endorsing the marriage. Under the proposed change, couples would return a form and an affidavit affirming they meet legal requirements to be married, to the probate judge’s office. The judge, or someone in his or her office, would still sign the certificate to show it was filed with the county. Albritton said that is acceptable to the judges because it is simply signing off on the documents being filed. Albritton argued the proposal would not be much change for couples.“I’m glad it’s done. This helps everybody in the state,” Albritton said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Parker Snider: Three years after Obergefell

In June of 2015, same-sex marriage became legal in all fifty states. The Supreme Court ruled in the Obergefell v. Hodges case in favor of Jim Obergefell, whose marriage in Maryland was not recognized in Ohio. Unexpected to most, exciting to some and alarming to others, the Obergefell ruling was hailed as monumental, final, and as historic as Brown v. Board of Education or Roe v. Wade. It’s been three years now. A lot hasn’t changed: Alabama is still good at football, Tom Cruise is still making Mission Impossible movies, and our state’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation is still legislating. Some things, however, have changed – including the public opinion of gay marriage. From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of Americans that favored same-sex marriage increased from 55 to 62 percent. What was in 2012 opposed by most Americans is now accepted by almost two-thirds of Americans. That number won’t be going down any time soon. The approval rate of same-sex marriage by millennials is just shy of 75% and still increasing. Same-sex marriage faces most of its opposition in those born before 1946, and even that approval rate is nearing the 50% mark. Clearly, same-sex marriage is approaching complete normalization in the United States. What is less clear, though, is the further impact—beyond the legalization of same-sex marriage—this normalization will have on the future. Conservative pundits everywhere asked the “what’s next?” question concerning same-sex marriage before Obergefell, suggesting polygamy and the surely-to-be-legalized ability to “marry a turtle” (a direct quote from Sean Hannity). Regardless of whether these suggestions are likely, I tend to look to Europe to see what social movement might come next to America instead of the musings of political personalities. In Europe, polygamy and animal marriage is still illegal. What is happening in Europe, however, is a disturbing movement against religious liberty. For example, the Council of Europe determined in 2007 that their definition of human rights must supersede “any religious principle”, creating clear problems for both Christians and Muslims who would refuse to officiate a same-sex marriage. France’s burqa ban, a law disallowing Muslim women from wearing certain religious clothing, is still on the books, and the Court of Justice of the European Union recently ruled that many private employers can ban religious symbols from the workplace. Even more worrisome is the fact that Ireland’s prime minister recently promised that many Catholic hospitals will be forced to provide abortions. Unfortunately, we already see shadows of the European reality within our borders. Attempts to force Christian bakers to create cakes for same-sex marriages, nuns to pay for birth control, and Christian colleges to approve of same-sex relationships demonstrate that Americans must be ready to protect religious liberty. One year after the Obergefell ruling, in the summer of 2016, I stumbled upon Jim Obergefell. He, along with others, was a witness in a House Oversight Committee Hearing I was attending. I was, admittedly, surprised to be in the same room as the man largely responsible for the legalization of same-sex marriage and somewhat apprehensive to the idea of speaking with him. In my interactions with him, however, Mr. Obergefell did not seem to be an anti-Christian warrior but instead a gracious and kind man. To my surprise and confusion, I saw no desire in him to eliminate Christianity or even any animosity towards Christians. Meeting Jim Obergefell showed me something important: most people are not fighting against something, but for something. They’re not angry, they’re hopeful, and genuinely trying to make the world a better place. That reality is a gift for those of us who want a solution. Three years after Obergefell, Americans should expect conflicts between religious liberty and the right to same-sex marriage created in 2015. When they come, we must work not towards a binary win-lose solution but for one that allows these two foundational American principles—religious liberty and individual freedom—to flourish together. ••• Parker Snider is Policy Relations Manager for the Alabama Policy Institute (API). API is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to strengthening free enterprise, defending limited government, and championing strong families. If you would like to speak with the author, please e-mail communications@alabamapolicy.org or call (205) 870-9900.

Alabama politicians react to Supreme Court gay wedding cake ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court narrowly ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of a religious objection. The 7-2 ruling found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility toward the baker, Jack Phillips, based on his religious beliefs. Here’s what Alabama politicians are saying about the decision: Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall: This Supreme Court Decision should send a strong message to activist courts and bureaucrats alike that Americans’ right to religious expression cannot be trampled and the Constitution cannot be ignored. Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne: This an important victory for religious liberty! It is especially notable that it is a 7 to 2 decision. That means even two of the more liberal justices agreed with the decision. Alabama 4th District U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt: Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court is one where all Americans should be happy. This is not a time that one side should be seen as a winner and the other side as a loser. This is a win for all Americans who believe that freedom of religion is fundamental. One of the main reasons the first people from Europe came to America was for religious freedom. And that is why protecting religious liberty was one of the founding principles of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights makes the United States unique among nations. Even two of the courts liberal members could not sidestep the First Amendment. This ruling was an important first round victory for religious freedom in an ongoing push-back against modern day political correctness.

Supreme Court gives victory to baker who refused to make cake for gay wedding

Bill to remove marriage licenses passes Alabama Senate

The Alabama Senate approved a bill on Wednesday to remove marriage licenses and begin a new process under which probate judges would accept affidavits from couples as an official record of marriage. Alabama Senators voted 19-1 for the bill, which will now move to the House of Representatives. Under the legislation, the requirement of a ceremony to honor the marriage would be erased. The cost would be the same as the current cost of marriage licenses in the state. The bill’s sponsor, Atmore-Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said the passing of this bill would remove the state from any role in marriage ceremonies, which he believes will properly separate churches and the state. Similar bills have been proposed in the Alabama legislature since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015. Since then, a number of Alabama probate judges have refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone due to their personal religious objections to gay marriage. Alabama probate judges are not required by the current law to issue marriage license and many judges have used the language in the current law to opt themselves out of issuing the licenses. The bill would take away any judgement by probate judges, making the only requirement for a marriage to be official being to submit the correct documents to the probate judge. The documents required would include an affidavit stating that the spouses are 18 years of age or older, or are at least 16 with parental consent, that they are not currently married, and not related by blood or adoption. Albritton’s bill states that the shift would not alter any other aspects of marriage in Alabama, including: divorce, child custody and child support. Sen. Phil Williams, who was the sole ‘no’ vote, stated he voted in that manner because he “feared the change would water down the meaning of marriage”.

Panel sends Alabama chief justice’s ethics case to trial

A state judicial panel on Monday refused to dismiss an ethics complaint against Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, saying that Moore will go to trial in September on accusations that he urged 68 probate judges to defy the federal courts on same-sex marriage. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary, a state panel that disciplines judges, refused dueling requests to either dismiss the complaint against Moore outright or go ahead and remove him from office. Chief Judge Michael Joiner said the case will go to trial Sept. 28. The panel of nine judges will hear the case and decide whether Moore violated judicial ethics and if so, what punishment he will face. The decision came down shortly after the conclusion of a 60-minute hearing in which Moore was alternately portrayed as a politician on a mission to block gay couples from marrying in Alabama or a judge who was merely trying answer questions from confused probate judges. Moore — who was ousted from office by the court in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building — could be removed as chief justice for a second time. “We are here to talk about Chief Justice Roy Moore and his repeated refusal to follow the rule of law,” John Carroll, a former federal magistrate representing the Judicial Inquiry Commission, told the court. Carroll said Moore abused his power as chief justice to promote a private agenda against same-sex marriage. The complaint stems from a Jan. 6 memo he sent probate judges. Moore wrote that a March order from the state Supreme Court to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples remained in full force and effect. The order came even though the U.S. Supreme Court had effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide six months prior and a federal judge said Alabama should follow that decision. A lawyer for Moore said the chief justice was only clarifying the status of the state injunction that was issued in March because probate judges were asking questions about it. “The probate judges were flapping in the wind. They were wondering what to do,” his lawyer, Mat Staver, told the court. Moore’s order was merely a legal “truism” that the order had not been lifted by the state court, he argued. Staver, in defending Moore, repeatedly emphasized a section of the January order where Moore told the probate judges that he was not at “liberty to provide any guidance to Alabama probate judges on the effect of (the U.S. Supreme Court ruling) on the existing orders of the Alabama Supreme Court.” Carroll countered that Moore’s intent was clear: to try to urge probate judges to fight against same-sex marriage. Moore acted on his own by sending the order after unsuccessfully urging his fellow justices to take some action regarding the March order in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, something pointing out by both sides in the hearing. The Monday hearing took on some of the theater and spectacle that accompanied the 2003 dismissal with passionate protests outside the court. Moore’s supporters and opponents held dueling rallies outside the court building ahead of the hearing, at times standing within a few feet of each other as they chanted and waved competing signs such as “No Moore” or “Judge Moore is right.” Moore entered the packed courtroom to applause from his supporters. After the hearing, he spoke to a sign-waving crowd outside, saying there is “no evidence” he broke judicial ethics and that he never told judges what to do. “They said I tried to influence them. I said it’s their decision,” Moore said. Moore said the complaint was filed against him by people who “don’t want anybody opposing any agenda of the homosexual movement.” The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights legal advocacy group, filed the complaint against Moore that led to the ethics charges, and its director said Moore was clearly urging the judges to defy the courts on gay marriage and was now trying to “save his skin by playing word games.” “Alabama is a great state and deserves better than a chief justice who thinks he is above the law. We’ve said it many times. He acts as if he is the ayatollah of Alabama,” SPLC President Richard Cohen said after the hearing. Ambrosia Starling, the stage name of a small-town Alabama drag queen, was among the speakers against Moore. “We lost the war between the states. That means the Supreme Court holds the final authority over jurisdiction of law,” Starling drawled. Linda Chasom drove three hours from Georgia to attend the rally in support of Moore. She said she thought Moore was being persecuted for his conservative Christian beliefs. “My family is being persecuted. Judge Roy Moore is part of my family as a believer,” Chasom said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore defends his gay marriage ban memo

Suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is defending his January 2016 memo to probate judges regarding same-sex marriage. Moore submitted an affidavit Tuesday explaining he was not defying the high court’s decision, but seeking to resolve any “confusion” among probate judges because of what he says were lingering questions about the impact of the federal decision. On March 3, 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Then on June 26, 2015, U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. “I believe it is time for us to make a decision in this case, one way or the other: to acquiesce in Obergefell and retreat from our March orders or to reject Obergefell and maintain our orders in place,” Moore wrote his fellow justices in September 2015, explaining it would be “very unfair” to leave “probate judges of this state to bear the stress of this battle alone with no guidance from us.” Months later, in January 2016, Moore readdressed the issue, noting the Alabama Supreme Court had not lifted its March 3 ruling prohibiting probate judges from issuing licenses to gay couples. He said it’s up to the state court to decide what to do with that order following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. Following his order, an ethics complaint was filed against him and he was immediately suspended from office pending investigation. Moore could be permanently removed from his post, if the state’s Court of Judiciary concludes he violated judicial ethics by urging probate judges to defy the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Earlier this month, the state’s Judicial Inquiry Committee (JIC) requested the Court of Judiciary to immediately remove Moore for abusing his office and has since accused Moore of playing “semantic gamesmanship” in attempting to justify the January memo. The Court of the Judiciary will hear arguments Aug. 8.

Federal judge permanently bars Alabama from blocking gay marriage

A federal judge is permanently barring Alabama from enforcing state laws to block gay marriage. U.S. District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile issued the order Tuesday in litigation that followed the U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized same-sex weddings nationwide. The judge writes that the order is needed because state laws against same-sex marriage remain on the books. She says the Alabama Supreme Court’s willingness to issue decisions conflicting with the U.S. Supreme Court demonstrate the need for permanent action. Granade notes that while same-sex opponent Roy Moore is currently suspended from the office of chief justice, other state justices have indicated they believe laws banning gay marriages were constitutional. Most counties already are issuing licenses to same-sex couples, so it’s unclear what impact the ruling will have. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

Alabama Supreme Court voids earlier ruling on same-sex adoptive couples

The Alabama Supreme Court has voided its earlier decision not to recognize a lesbian couple’s adoption that was carried out in another state. The opinion announced Friday falls into line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in March that said the Alabama court erred in declaring the adoption held in Georgia invalid. One woman bore three children, and her partner adopted them – not in Alabama, but in Georgia – where they believed their chances at adoption would be better. Alabama courts got involved when the couple broke up, and the birth mother tried preventing her former partner from having regular visits with the children. The Alabama Supreme Court refused to recognize the other woman as a parent, and she appealed to the nation’s high court. Republished with permission of The Associated Press

Conservative group to hold rally in support of suspended Roy Moore

A coalition of conservative groups is hosting a rally near the Capitol building Saturday, May 21, in support of suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, saying liberal groups have unfairly targeted him for his stance on same-sex marriage. “We can’t believe what’s unfolding before our eyes here in Alabama and across the nation,” wrote the group’s spokesperson Hannah Ford in a news release. “If you’ve ever wanted to be a voice for truth, for God, for marriage, for morality, for the Gospel, for your children and grandchildren, for the Constitution of the United States, and the laws of Alabama, this is your time. Chief Justice Moore has been a lone voice for God’s law and for a proper interpretation of the Constitution in the midst of those who hate both and now they’re trying to take him down.” Moore was suspended from his position following complaints made to the Judicial Inquiry Commission by the ACLU and other civil rights activism groups. The appointed body, which oversees the state’s judges, said the 69-year-old jurist “abused his office by issuing an administrative order to probate judges in January telling them an Alabama court order and law banning same-sex marriages remained in effect despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming same-sex marriage six months earlier,” according to a report by The Associated Press. The suspension is Moore’s second, his first ending in an eventual removal from office in 2003 for violating a federal judge’s order to remove a large Ten Commandments monument from public property. Moore was subsequently re-elected to his position in 2010 in a landslide win. The rally will be held at the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building, 300 Dexter Avenue in Montgomery, from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 21. For more information about the event, including parking instructions, click here.

Senate passes bill taking state out of marriage business

The Alabama Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would abolish the requirement that state probate judges sign off on marriages. To replace the age-old courthouse process, the bill would required a marriage contract to be signed under the witness of two adults. Those contracts would then be documented by the local probate judge. A marriage ceremony would not be required SB143 from Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Range) follows the U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding a ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional. Some Alabama probate judges have already stopped issuing marriage licenses, claiming that in providing a marriage certificate to a same-sex couple they are violating their religious convictions. Albritton contends that the legislation will do away with such controversy. Some senators voiced concern over the bill, noting that it would add to the current confusion and make it more difficult for military personnel to navigate receipt of marriage entitlements. Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham), Alabama’s only openly gay lawmaker, opposed the legislation and advocated for county probate judges to do the job for which they were elected. With its passage in the Senate, the bill is now on its way to the House of Representatives.

Alabama Supreme Court rules against same-sex marriage ban

Suits filed in Alabama opposing an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which called same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional, were struck down Friday by the Alabama Supreme Court. The Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) and the Alabama Policy Institute, along with Elmore County Probate Judge John Enslen, challenged the Supreme Court’s Obergfell v Hodges ruling, which stated that the “fundamental right” to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples via the Fourteenth Amendment, the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. Chief Justice Roy Moore, a long-time outspoken critic of same-sex marriage, was out-voted by five other justices on the bench. Moore protested the decision and contended that, despite the lawsuits being dismissed, Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage still holds up. Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, celebrated the decision and specifically the words of Justice Greg Shaw, who called the opinions of Moore and Justice Tom Parker “silly” and his public comments “unethical.” “I think the state should thank Justice Shaw for his brave opinion,” Cohen said, calling Moore and Parker’s comments “bizarre and disheartening” because they “bring dishonor to the Alabama judiciary.” “People like Justice Moore and Justice Parker should resign from the bench and perhaps offer an amendment to ban same-sex marriage, that’s their right to do” Cohen added. “But it’s shameful for them to pretend they can ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States.” Cohen added that Moore’s edict to local probate judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses had long been ignored across the state. However, Joe Godfrey, Executive Director for ALCAP, decried the ruling as an assault on religious liberties. “We certainly are concerned,” Godfrey said. “This is a religious liberty issue and I see it as an infringement on religious liberties.” Godfrey noted that he is currently in talks with ALCAP’s lawyers on a path forward and is planning to approach lawmakers about proposing legislation which would protect Alabama judges and citizens from acting against their religious convictions.

Tag: same-sex marriage