Alabama!

Yes, same-sex couples in Alabama have started to marry, though – considering it is Alabama – the process hasn't been smooth.

The 11th Circuit denied a stay. So did the Supremes, though Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented. This time Thomas wrote 3 pages for his dissent, saying that since the matter is before the Supremes it is improper for the court to allow marriages to proceed. Yes, he was criticizing his colleagues. And, yes, allowing Alabama same-sex couples to marry makes it harder for the Supremes to come to the conclusion he wants.

You may remember Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supremes. He was the one that installed a big Ten Commandments monument in the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building. More than a decade ago he refused an order from a federal court to remove it. As a result he was removed. But in Alabama Supreme Court Justices are elected and in 2013 voters returned him to their high court. They like their bigots. So in a state where its Marriage Protection Amendment was approved by 80% of voters in 2006 Moore feels he is on safe political ground when he announced an order prohibiting probate judges from issuing marriage licenses. We don't need no stinkin' US Constitution! Comparisons were quickly made to George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door to prevent integration.

Moore posted on his Facebook page that citizens who see a judge breaking Moore's order should tell the governor (since Moore can't dish out punishment himself). Gov. Bentley responded by saying he will take no action against judges who defy Moore's order.

Some of the probate judges apparently liked the cover Moore gave them and have been refusing licenses to same-sex couples. And to show they aren't bigoted, some of those have decided to not issue marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight. It didn't take long for one of the judges to be sued. It also didn't take long for the federal judge who overturned the ban to order that sued judge to issue licenses, and same-sex marriages have begun in Mobile. Even so, perhaps about 50 straight couples are being denied licenses each day this mess continues.

As all this confusion plays out, a same-sex couple in Autauga County did get a license, but the judge refused to perform the ceremony. If I do it for one couple I have to do it for everyone! Rev. Anne Susan Diprizio saw the couple's distress and offered to perform the ceremony. Proceedings began and she was arrested.

Gay couples in Texas are asking the 5th Circuit that since Alabama didn't get a stay, could you get rid of ours? Couples in South Dakota and Missouri are asking the 8th Circuit the same thing.

As of yesterday 47 of Alabama's 66 counties have marriage equality. Another 6 aren't issuing licenses to anyone, 8 give licenses only to straight couples, and the last 5 aren't telling reporters.

And the marriage map is looking pretty good – now if we could turn the red areas to purple...

Of course, we're not done with the crazy. Liberty Counsel petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court to stop same-sex marriages. The court agreed to take the case on a 6-2 vote (Chief Justice Moore didn't vote). It could be entertaining since a state court can't trump a federal court on issues of the US Constitution. So a ruling that Liberty Counsel likes could be swiftly smacked aside.