After Abortion Ban, Alabama Now Votes To Eliminate Marriage Licenses
Just weeks after voting to ban abortion, Alabama has now voted to eliminate all marriage licenses in an effort to appease opponents of same-sex marriages, according to Law and Crime.
Alabama has moved to make all marriages useless by deciding that Sections 22-9A-17, 30-1-5, 30-1-12, and 30-1-16 of the Code of Alabama should be amended. The amendment would mean that couples getting married cannot get marriage licenses, or even have wedding functions at all. Although the vote would make all marriages useless in the eyes of the law, critics argue that lawmakers in Alabama are actually targeting same-sex couples who are granted equal footing with heterosexual couples.
Not surprisingly, the bill introduced by Republican Greg Albritton, which was passed 67-26, has infuriated both the marriage industry and supporters of the LGBTQ community. Alabama State Rep. Neil Rafferty, who is the only openly gay member of the Alabama House, said that the bill has been introduced to marginalize members of his community further. He was one of the 26 House members who voted against the law.
“I feel like it was born out of prejudice,” Rafferty said.
Among those who supported the bill, however, was former probate judge Wes Allen, who stopped issuing marriage licenses for couples in 2015 after the Supreme Court ruled that all states must allow same-sex couples to get married.
“I believe marriage is between a man and a woman,” Allen said.
He was also quick to remind reporters that about 80 percent of Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples. He argued that since signing a marriage license was akin to endorsing same-sex marriages, it was only natural that he support a law which would make them futile.
Following the vote to end all marriage licenses, Alabama could brace itself for further criticism from progressive forces who will see the move as the state trying to enforce discriminatory behavior even if it means overruling federal law.
Alabama votes to end marriage licenses in state https://t.co/SPlXDB5e91 pic.twitter.com/l22HxTuupA
— The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2019
With the bill having passed the Alabama House, it will now make its way to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk. Ivey is already in the crosshairs of fierce criticism for her support of the anti-abortion bill which makes it illegal for women to abort under any circumstances. A doctor could be sentenced to 99 years in prison for performing an abortion under the new law, while victims of rape and incest are also not allowed to have abortions.
Wedding organizers in Alabama are almost as aghast as supporters of the LGBT community following the vote to eliminate all marriage licenses, saying that their businesses could collapse with the state failing to recognize marriage vows.
