Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore
Ever heard the expression “Cutting off your nose to spite your face”? That’s exactly what Alabama legislators are doing when it comes to the issue of marriage equality.
The Alabama Senate passed, on a 22-3 vote, SB 377 that eliminates marriage licenses all together in the state, instead requiring folks who might previously have gone to a probate judge to get a marriage license to enter into a contract basically stating they would have gotten a marriage license if they could have and then file that contract with the probate judge.
Attorney Jake Watson explained to WHNT 19 News: “[SB377] really does away with the traditional sense of a marriage certificate and what we’ve been dealing with in Alabama as far as marriage certificates for more than a hundred years, I believe.”
The problem, Watson added, is that SB 377 creates all kinds of confusion for those who rely on marriage to prove the connection between to the federal government, insurance companies and anyone else that might require them to be legally married. And, he said, it would put up another barrier for same-sex marriage.
“A statement that the parties are legally authorized to be married, that’s going to be the catch. What is legally authorized to be married? Under the State of Alabama Law, that would not include same-sex marriage,” he said.
SB 377 is, of course, Alabama’s way of saying, once again, “can’t make me! Nyahh, nyahh, nyahh” to the federal government, in the shadow of a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision that is expected to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide later this month. It is Alabama Legislature’s way of crawling along in the footsteps of right-wing-nut state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who ignored federal trial court rulings upholding marriage equality by Judge Callie Granade in his own state, who got the Alabama Supreme Court to follow along and has since pledged to fight equality to the bitter end.
SB 377 is making its way through the Alabama House right now. You can read the full text of the bill here.
