A Florida couple falls asleep in a dumpster and wakes up in a garbage truck, California firefighters rescue a horse from a bathtub, and Alabama lifted the ban on gay marriages, becoming the 37th to permit same-sex marriages. And that’s this week’s spotlight on bizarre news, but let’s talk about the strangest one among the three: Alabama.
On January 23, Federal District Court Judge Callie V. S. Granade ruled that Alabama’s ban on gay marriages was unconstitutional. On February 9, the United States Supreme Court ruled to not intervene, resulting in a same-sex marriage boom throughout the state, right? Not necessarily.
The night before the Supreme Court ruling, chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, ordered Alabama’s probate judges to refrain from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
Readers, I know what you’re thinking: “What’s a probate judge?” And off the top of my head, the definition falls along the lines of a state judicial official who is in charge of overseeing all aspects of the probate of the estates of deceased persons in his or her applicable jurisdiction.
In response to Chief Justice Moore’s demands, Judge Granade emphasized that the ban on gay marriage was ruled unconstitutional and the probate judges held an obligation to obey the laws.
As a result of the judicial confusion, some counties have issued permitted same-sex marriage, others chose to decline and ignore the ruling, and a number ceased the distribution of all marriage licenses, gay or otherwise, until the law becomes clearer. Nevertheless, probate judges in only 23 of Alabama’s 67 counties have started issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, mostly in large cities like Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville.
Many compare Moore’s resistance to gay marriage to Governor George Wallace’s efforts to preserve segregation 50 years ago. These two complex issues fail to warrant a suitable analogy, but the issues do share similar principles. Two aging, conservative men trying to uphold outdated views.
While a poll conducted by the Public Religious Research Institute found that Alabama ranks 50th among the states favoring gay marriage, most recent Gallup Polls place same-sex marriage support at an astounding 55%; nearly 8 in 10 adults favor the gay marriage. Chief Justice Moore needs to get with the times or his political career may end up like that of former Governor George Wallace.
Moore is one of the state’s most vehement critics on gay marriage. In a 2002 ruling in a child custody case, he called homosexuality an “inherit evil.” In his 2012 campaign, he stated that same-sex marriage leads to the “ultimate destruction” of the United States.
Well Mr. Moore, I believe that intolerance is a learned evil that will impede and immobilize progress in our country. Since when did loving another person of the same gender become such an abomination to mankind? Their love and marriage doesn’t affect you in the slightest way. You’re not a poorer citizen because of gay marriage, you’re not a dumber citizen because of gay marriage, and you’re not a weaker citizen because of gay marriage. Intolerance, like that of Mr. Moore’s, hinders the growth of our nation and fails to move society forward.
And if you still remain steadfast in your arrogant hate for same-sex marriage, then don’t get one.
