Judicial Chaos Complicates Same-Sex Marriage In Alabama

Rachel Osier Lindley | February 10, 2015

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Despite judicial confusion throughout Alabama, on Monday several Alabama counties did issue same-sex couples marriage licenses, including in Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery. Rachel Osier Lindley explains what happened across the state the day Alabama became the 37th to recognize same-sex marriage.

Couples were all smiles as they lined up at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham on Monday. They were among the first in Alabama to get same-sex marriage licenses.

As couples waited in the hallway, they posed for pictures, and talked with family and friends.

Erica Brown of Birmingham was with her partner Deshawn Bey and their son. “We would have been married six years ago if it was up to us,” she says. “We’re just happy it’s happening.”

Deshawn Bey and Erica Brown with their son. Photo by Audrey Atkins.

 

James Farless and Steve Davis have waited even longer. They’ve been together 19 years.

“I placed a bet on it,” said James. “I bet that Alabama would be the last. And I lost my $50. But I’m glad. That’s the best bet that I lost.”

But the celebrations in Birmingham were overshadowed by judicial confusion elsewhere in the state.

Probate judges in three quarters of the state’s counties followed Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s order not to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

Randall Marshall, Alabama legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says he thinks most judges wanted to follow the law, but Moore’s order made that tricky.

He says judges “were sort of thrown into a quandary of ‘what do I do in the face of the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court telling me to do one thing, and a federal court saying to do another?'”

This kind of legal back-and-forth isn’t new to a state that once refused to accept voting applications for African-Americans. Most famously, in 1963, Governor George Wallace tried to block school integration.

“Everybody knows how this story ends,” says Joseph Smith, University of Alabama political science professor. “This story ends with same-sex marriages happening in Alabama.”

In Mobile, the second biggest county in Alabama, a same-sex couple filed a motion in federal court asking that the county’s probate judge be held in contempt for not issuing licenses.

James Farless and Steve Davis. Photo by Rachel Osier Lindley.

 

Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King says Moore’s order didn’t deter him.

“Is this an exciting day for many people in the state of Alabama, particularly in Jefferson county? Yeah, obviously it is. Am I happy for them? You betcha I am,” says King. But, to him, “This is about following the law, period.”

Still, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and State Attorney General Luther Strange expressed disappointment that the U.S. Supreme court refused to block same-sex marriages.

Outside the Birmingham courthouse, supporters cheered as couples emerged, licenses in hand.

Jeni Tanner-Jordan was watching the ceremonies and passing out baked goods.

“They deserve the support. Equality for all. And we want to see them experience equality finally. And that’s the way it should be. And we will always stand on the right side of history.”

For now, some Alabama couples who live where they can’t get marriage licenses say they plan to go to cities where they can get married.