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Several Alabama counties still refusing marriage licenses for same-sex couples

Several Alabama counties still refusing marriage licenses for same-sex couples
Angela Channell, right, and Dawn Hicks celebrate Friday, February 13, 2015, after becoming the first same-sex couple to apply for and receive a marriage license from Tuscaloosa County in Alabama. The county began issuing licenses to same-sex couples four days after a federal judge's ruling went into effect.
Angela Channell, right, and Dawn Hicks celebrate Friday, February 13, 2015, after becoming the first same-sex couple to apply for and receive a marriage license from Tuscaloosa County in Alabama. The county began issuing licenses to same-sex couples four days after a federal judge’s ruling went into effect. Robert Sutton, AP

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gays and lesbians can marry in a majority of Alabama counties, but at least one-fourth of probate judges are refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, or have shut down marriage license operations altogether out of uncertainty over what to do.

At least 12 Alabama counties are not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. At least another six are not giving licenses to anyone, gay or straight, to avoid the appearance of discrimination.

Nine days after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade’s ruling went into effect declaring Alabama’s gay-marriage ban unconstitutional, the marriage landscape remained uneven terrain. Advocates said that gay couples in those counties were being denied their constitutional rights. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore said he was troubled that so many probate judges were giving into the court ruling.

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“I am not disappointed. I am bewildered that so many fail to see that the only law by which they are governed presently is the Alabama Constitution Sanctity of Marriage Amendment,” Moore said of the probate judges.

Alabama probate judges were not defendants in the case, Moore argues, and thus are not subject to a direct court order. He also said they are part of a parallel state court system that doesn’t have to submit to Granade’s views until the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise.

An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said Granade’s ruling striking down the gay-marriage ban should be considered the law of the state unless it is overturned or stayed.

“It’s not her initial order that compels them, it’s the United States Constitution that requires them to do so,” said ACLU legal director Randall Marshall.

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The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights advocacy group, dropped off a petition with 28,000 signatures on Wednesday urging the Judicial Inquiry Commission to conduct an investigation into Moore’s orders to the probate judges. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a complaint against Moore, but the proceedings are kept confidential.

“There are couples, there are families who are being denied their rights,” said Ashley Jackson, director of Human Rights Campaign Alabama.

Marion County Probate Judge Rocky Ridings said his office is one of the counties not issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Ridings said probate judges have been confused over what to do.

“We do not know if it is against the law or not,” Ridings said. “Give us a clear direction. What are we supposed to do?”

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Tallapoosa County Probate Judge Leon Archer said his office began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after consulting with the county’s attorney.

Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King and Madison County Probate Judge Tommy Ragland, meanwhile, asked the Alabama Supreme Court to reject a request from two conservative groups to wade into the dispute. The groups have asked the court to join Moore’s legal position and direct probate judges to not issue the licenses.

Lawyers for King and Ragland noted the conflicting advice and said the two probate judges made the decision to “respect the federal court decision.”

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