Not A Sweet Home For All: Alabama Senate Committee and Judges Looking Undermine Marriage Equality

Lawmakers and judges have been busy in Alabama this week attempting to undermine the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling.

From The Associated Press:

A state Senate committee has approved a bill to take Alabama probate judges out of the wedding license business following the U.S Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage.

The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee on Monday approved the bill to do away with state-issued marriage licenses. Instead, spouses would file a signed marriage contract at probate offices.

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Alabama is home to several probate judges who have shut down marriage license operations for all of their constituents just to avoid offering licenses to same-sex couples.  Now, instead of condemning those actions, Alabaman politicians are taking a page from these judges' book and attempting to cease issuing marriage licenses from the state altogether. 

Some probate judges are even stepping up their protests by reaching out to the state's highest court.

From AL.com:

Washington County Probate Judge Nick Williams is urging the state's high court to issue a "landmark" ruling challenging the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.

And he wants Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had earlier recused himself because of his outspoken stance against gay marriage, to be able to vote on it.

"Throughout the nation, defenders of traditional marriage and defenders of constitutional federalism looked – and continue to look – to Alabama as their last best hope," Williams states in a brief filed Monday afternoon with the Alabama Supreme Court.

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Elected officials seem to want Alabama to take the last stand against marriage equality, but while a "never say die" attitude might be great for The Goonies, it's certainly not the pose you want to strike in face of history and equality.