While many couples converged on courthouses in population centers like Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville to exchange vows, other would-be newlywedsthe majority of them in rural countieswere turned away.
“It was so joyous to be able to see these couples who had been together for 20, 30 years to marry and to have their relationship respected,” said Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.
At the same time, she said, it was “painful to couples who want to get married and who were denied.”
It’s unclear exactly how many counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples after federal courts ruled they could go forward on Monday.
Several counties, including Jefferson, Montgomery and Madison (which have the state’s highest populations of same-sex couples, according to the Williams Institute) told CNN they were issuing licenses, while others said they were following a Sunday order from state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore telling probate judges not to issue the licenses because the federal courts lacked jurisdiction.
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Watson and other observers believe the Monday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a sign of what’s to come when the high court rules on the larger issue.
“I think that tells us something about what we might expect,” she said.
Moore doesn’t see any writing on the wall.
“I don’t think the ruling is a harbinger,” he said. “Justices (Elena) Kagan and (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg both have performed same-sex marriages. They should both be recused from this case. When you have a predisposition … you have no right to sit on the case. They’re flouting the ethical rules that apply to most judges in this country.”
