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Some Alabama Counties Refuse To Issue Same Sex Marriage Licenses

There was much confusion during the day on Monday between same-sex couples wanting to get married legally, some judges allowing this to happen despite the federal court not ruling whether it was yet allowed or not, and the rest of the counties judges not issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Because of all of the confusion, there were some couples who were happy, some who were upset because they were turned away, and some judges confused on what to do.

Although some of the couples were successful with getting a marriage license in Alabama, according to a report by USA Today on Feb. 9, many of the counties in the state turned many of the same-sex couples away because they didn’t want to go against the federal judge who ruled against gay marriage because the ban had not been lifted yet.

Although, according to the New York Times, 50 out of 67 counties did issue the same-sex marriage licenses even though the Alabama Supreme Court placed a hold on these marriages.

The main reason for all of this confusion in the state is because a federal judge, Judge Callie V. Granade did rule in January that the ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional and was against human rights. However, her ruling had been put on hold until Monday to give the state of Alabama a chance to appeal it. Since the ban was set to be lifted today, Monday, Feb. 9, another judge, Alabama’s Chief Justice, Roy S. Moore sent out a letter to all probate judges on Sunday night telling them not to issue same-sex marriage licenses on Monday because it would go against state law. This was because the ban hadn’t been lifted yet. However, many counties went against Chief Justice Moore’s order and started issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples anyway.

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