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Alabama judges use segregation-era law to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses
Some judges in the southern American state of Alabama are reportedly using a long-forgotten amendment written in 1961 to prevent mixed-race marriages to get out of the marriage business altogether rather than risk issuing even one wedding license to gays or lesbians.
The 54-year-old provision says ‘Marriage licenses may be issued by the judges of probate of the several counties.’
Judges who oppose same-sex marriage say the word ‘may‘ as opposed to ‘shall’ gives them an option whether to issue a license or not, the Associated Press explains.
Judges in at least nine of Alabama’s 67 counties have quit issuing any marriage licenses to anyone straight or gay since the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex unions in June.
Nick Williams, a probate judge in Washington County and Baptist minister, is one of those who has quit the marriage license business.
He says issuing a license for a same-sex union would violate his Christian beliefs and would go to jail before he would approve a marriage license for a same-sex couple.
Judges in three adjoining counties in southwestern Alabama have stopped issuing licenses effectively creating a region in where marriage licenses aren’t available for 78,000 people.
An earlier Al Jazeera report published in July this year says at least 17 probate judges have refused to issue same sex marriage licenses despite an order by US District Judge Callie V.S. Granade to do so.
The AP notes that no legal action has been initiated against the probate judges.
The post Alabama judges use segregation-era law to refuse issuing gay marriage licenses appeared first on Gay Star News.
Sylvia Tan
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