Thanks to “activist judges”, Alabama is the 37th state to legalize gay marriage.
While the ability to chant “We’re Number 37! We’re Number 37!” may not sound especially impressive on some counts, for Alabama it’s way above par.
Tis a day my dear dead deceased and I suspect decomposed Daddy would have said “The angels in heaven are singing ‘Who In The Hell Woulda Thunk It’”.
And the amazing thing is we got it before Georgia, which has the huge gay mecca of Atlanta and the lesser gay mecca of Savannah.
I worked at the U of AL for years and only now can I say “Go Bama!” Your native Jim “Gomer Pyle” Nabors is now legally married here.
Since I don’t even remember the last actual date I had this doesn’t affect me personally, but I wonder does it make me a bad person that my main joy comes not just for the friends it does affect but for the people it pisses off (who it does not otherwise affect).
The decision was stayed until Feb 9th. The Circuit Court declined to extend the stay and that has been appealed to the Supreme Court. We’ll know in a day or two.
Based on what happened in Florida, it’s very unlikely that SCOTUS will extend the stay.
I feel sorry for the sane people in the other 13 states. Guess what guys, Alabama is more progressive than your state! Of course, my state, Florida, only legalized SSM a few weeks ago, so I guess I’m not one to talk.
Schadenfreude is not always a bad thing, it can be a natural and honorable response when injustice and those who support it are defeated and must now face their inner demons that push them to cruelty.
It’s cool seeing the map of gay marriage states resembling Civil War maps just a little less. (Oh, the Confederacy was lock-step, but now some of the states have fallen while some of the Midwest is still anti SSM legality.)
If just one of the following- Ohio, Kentucky, or Tennessee- will fall, then a SSM couple will be able to drive from the Atlantic to the Pacific and be legally married every foot of the way.
OH, KY, TN (and MI) are in the 6th Circuit which ruled against SSM. It was the first loss at the Circuit level which created a split. The decisions in those states are under review by the Supreme Court. Arguments in April and a decision in June. None of those state will change before then. It is exceedingly likely, in fact, that all of the remaining hold out States will fall then.
<tangent because of seeing Huckabee aw, shucksing last night> Oh, being against gay marriage is a Biblical thing, is it? Christ Himself said getting married again after a divorce is adultery and I don’t see you up in arms that that is legal in the US, Bubba. And anyway, who cares what people do secularly? </tangent>
I believe that it was Paul who said that, not Christ. Paul was also the guy who said all of the anti-gay stuff in the NT. Christ was, as far as we know, silent on the matter.
3Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? 6“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?” 8He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9“And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Who do you think you’re kidding, us? We know you enough to know that you are getting more joy out of pissing people off, even if it’s just a tiny bit more.
Meanwhile the political leadership in the Territories, as has been done with a bunch of other “sensitive” things, are sort of sitting around waiting for the whole thing to be resolved by SCOTUS at the Federal level so they can soothe their consciences that the decision was never in their hands anyway. PR’s pro-equality plaintiffs got an adverse ruling at Federal District level that is just now getting apellants’ briefs filed up at the 1st Circuit (Yes, we are under the Boston Circuit. Long story); then again it is the Boston circuit, chances are it gets reversed and then they can also head for a Caribbean holiday under the US flag!
So am I the only one getting a mental image of couples in at least 1 county having to have US Marshals escort them into the courthouse to get their marriage licences?
I’m very happy for Alabama, of course, but it pains me that Texas is still behind. Come on, guys, we have Austin! We should have been among the first of the backwards southern states to do this!
Listening to our once-impeached-and-removed-then-reelected professional kickboxer (really) tuned Chief Justice Roy “10 Commandments” Moore lose his shit in press conferences and quoting the Bible to tell judges to deny marriage licenses or the head of Public Utilities (that’s public utilities, as in “has fuck all to do with marriage laws”) open meeting with a prayer to pray for the soul of the state for doing this and the like… I’m loving it. It’s not quite as nice as seeing pictures of 74 year old Klansmen in handcuffs and orange jumpsuits for crimes they thought they’d gotten away with a lifetime ago, but it’s definitely nice.
