Alabama's strange stance on same sex marriage

It is interesting to be a witness to history.

In 1999, when I came to the United States, homosexuality was a crime.

In 2003, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v Texas, it was not a crime any more, see the decision here.

Fast-forward 11 years more - and the U.S. Supreme Court found that same sex marriage is a constitutional right.

After the decision, some state officials, as well as private individuals refused to accept legality of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

A Kentucky clerk Kim Davis

went to jail - with a lot of vocal support from various groups from around the country - defending her individual right not to issue same sex marriage licenses.

Now Kim Davis is reportedly on the receiving end of a motion for $233,058 in legal fees against her for refusing to issue same sex marriage licenses.

In three states,  Alabama, Oregon and Wyoming, judges who refused to officiate at same sex marriages, or gave instructions to others not to issue same sex marriage licenses, became the targets of judicial disciplinary proceedings.

In Alabama, the target of such a disciplinary proceeding was the state's Chief Judge Roy Moore,

who defended himself on the basis that the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions are not the Supreme Law of the Land - and they are actually not, despite the fact that they are presented that way in courts, law schools and in the press.

In Oregon, the target of the disciplinary proceedings was judge Vance Day.

In Wyoming, the target of the disciplinary proceedings is judge Ruth Neely.

While Alabama, Oregon and Wyoming prosecuted its judges for disobeying the U.S. Supreme Court precedent regarding constitutionality of same sex marriages, Texas State Bar refused to prosecute its Attorney General Ken Paxton

for the same behavior, instructing county clerks not to issue same sex marriage licenses.

And, in North Carolina, a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state's magistrates refusing to issue same sex marriage licenses, was recently dismissed. 

Federal judge Max Cogburn

who dismissed the case, claimed that plaintiffs failed to show that they have standing and that they were directly harmed by law.

I have put pictures of people at the center of controversies here to show the uniting factor - race.  All of them are white.  Whether it is a mere coincidence or not, and whether the coincidence means anything, is for my readers to judge. 

Among these six states:

1. Alabama,
2. Kentucky,
3. North Carolina,
4. Oregon,
5. Texas, and
6. Wyoming

that have come on the map with controversies where state officials defied the U.S. Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage, the strangest stance is in Alabama.

While Alabama suspended its Chief Judge Roy Moore, first, during the pendency of the disciplinary proceedings against him, and then, after the trial, for the rest of his term, the same blessed State of Alabama, through its Attorney General, refused to prosecute a florist for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same sex marriage couple.

Moreover, Alabama State Attorney General reportedly joined "a dozen other states" in refusal to prosecute businesses for discrimination against same sex couples.

Here is the timeline of Alabama State AG's reaction to the same-sex marriage decisions by federal courts and their enforceability.

In February of 2015, before the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case Obergefell v Hodges, finding a constitutional right to marry for same sex couples, Alabama State AG issued the following press-release:

On September 30, 2016, on the same day as permanent suspension of Alabama Chief Judge Roy Moore was announced for defying the U.S. Supreme Court's same sex marriage decision, the Alabama State Attorney General issued this press-release:

So, apparently, we have 13 states asserting, in an amicus brief filed in a court case in a Washington state court, that business owners have a right to discriminate against customers based on their religious beliefs.

The states that filed the amicus briefs supporting such discrimination are:

1. Alabama,
2. Arkansas,
3. Kansas,
4. Kentucky,
5. Louisiana,
6. Nebraska,
7. Nevada,
8. Oklahoma,
9. South Carolina,
10. Texas,
11. Utah, and
12. West Virginia.

The lawsuit in State of Washington court is posed as an issue of state constitutional law - whether people must shelve their religious beliefs when they open a business.

Yet, the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that business owners may not discriminate on the basis of race.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld constitutionality of same sex marriage, it is not a big stretch of imagination to predict that discrimination on the basis of sex orientation by private business owners will be prohibited, too.

Yet, the Alabama Attorney General sends to the public interesting vibes by making the press release about his support of business owners in the State of Washington, and based on state Constitution, on the same day as the State Chief Judge Roy Moore was suspended for defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage.

When one public official is de facto removed from office for nearly the same conduct as the other public official in the same state is continuing to display, that is a strange state of events, indeed.

And especially when, notably, Alabama State Attorney General joined Texas State Attorney General in the amicus brief regarding state constitutional right of private businesses to discriminate against same sex couples - that is the same Texas State Attorney General who also instructed county clerks in his state not to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and the Texas Bar would not prosecute him for misconduct.

What an interesting time we live in...