Alabama Senate Finds a Work-Around to Avoid Same-Sex Marriage

In the Bible Belt state of Alabama, folks don’t take too kindly to the idea of same-sex marriage. Over the weekend, demonstrators rallied in support of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. And now, the state may stop issuing marriage licenses to anyone.

That’s because this week, in anticipation of a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling to legalize same-sex marriage, the Alabama Senate voted 22-3 to eliminate marriage licenses altogether.

If Alabama’s SB377, which has now gone to the House for deliberation, becomes law, the institution of marriage as we know it could change forever in that southern state. Instead of applying for a marriage license, engaged couples in Alabama would have to sign a contract and file it with the probate judge.

TV news station WHNT quotes Huntsville attorney Jake Watson, who explained the significance of the pending legislation:

“It really does away with the traditional sense of a marriage certificate and what we’ve been dealing with in Alabama as far as marriage certificates for more than a hundred years, I believe.”

Watson added that there is a “catch” which may make it impossible for same-sex couples to marry in his state:

“A statement that the parties are legally authorized to be married, that’s going to be the catch. What is legally authorized to be married? Under the State of Alabama Law, that would not include same-sex marriage.”

In the event that the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, Watson believes, this bill will be a firewall. If the Court orders all states to issue same-sex marriage licenses, Alabama could counter that they don’t issue licenses at all; instead, they just limit the contracts which they accept.

If the overwhelming success in the Senate is any indication, the bill will also pass when the Alabama House votes, possibly later in June. It’s likely that after that, the matter will end up in federal court–possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court.