Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 17th, 2015
Legislators in Alabama have been approaching the issue of issuing marriage licenses with creativity. Instead of coming up with escape clauses for those who go into conniptions at the thought of handing a piece of paper to an actual homosexual (gasp), the Alabamians just want to get out of the marriage business altogether. Rather than giving someone license to marry, they want to just record – after the fact – that people have entered into a contract of marriage, just like you would record a deed.
Which is not necessarily a horrible thing. There may be issues with how such a contract is seen by the Federal Government or by other states, but the marriage license process is pretty rote anyway and one less visit to the local petty bureaucrats is a blessing, not a hardship.
I had thought this issue had died in June when a House committee failed to advance the bill. But it was brought up for a vote this week in the House in special session. It failed again (AL.com)
The House voted 53-36 in favor of the bill. But it required a two-thirds vote for approval because it was not part of the governor’s call for the special session.
It should be noted that the bill received majority support in the House and passed the Senate in June by a vote of 22 to 3. So there is a very good chance that this bill will be resurrected in the next session.
Meanwhile, Nick Williams, the Judge of Probate for Washington County (think County Clerk) has filed a petition with the Alabama Supreme Court expressing his concern about having to issue “a license to engage in sodomy”. I am not myself familiar with the Sodomy License and wonder whether, as with a Driver’s License, one has to take a test to show proficiency. Perhaps there’s a training course and a learner’s permit?
Williams has asked the Alabama Supreme Court for an order “upholding and enforcing the Alabama Constitution ans Alabama’s marriage laws, notwithstanding the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.” In other words, he’s asked that the federal ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States be reversed by Alabama’s Supreme Court.
Of course the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution prohibits states from overruling the US Constitution. But the yahoos on the Alabama Supreme Court have little regard for the rule of law or constitutions and they just might rule for Mr. Williams.
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Tom in Lazybrook
September 17th, 2015
I actually owned property in Washington County till last year. I think Mr. Williams is going to find himself in a pickle when he inevitably has to recognize a same sex marriage when one hits his,court for probate. And there is no ‘may’ for the probate court’s duties in those cases.
Gene in L.A.
September 17th, 2015
If the state gets out of the marriage license business, who will set the standards and requirements for obtaining the contract? Marriage brokers? Cities? This seems to open far more cans of worms than it solves problems.
Timothy Kincaid
September 17th, 2015
Gene, the standards and requirements for marriage remain the same. Just the titles on the pieces of paper change.
For some reason, it really really matters to anti-gays whether they hand someone a piece of paper or whether they receive and file a piece of paper instead.
Nathaniel
September 18th, 2015
Timothy, it only matters more for now. If such a change was made, I’m sure you would hear from someone who doesn’t want to record the marriage certificate they received. Of course, it may be, on the registering end, that they see the marriage as having already happened, so refusing to record it would not, in any way, block the marriage.
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