Alabama is now the latest state to allow same-sex marriages. On Monday, the Supreme Court denied a request from the state to have a delay.
Just last month, a district court judge struck down the state’s ban on gay marriages. Alabama then requested a delay until the Supreme Court makes its overall ruling on gay marriage.
However, the request was denied, making Alabama the 37th state with legal gay marriage, notes CNN.
Still, Roy Moore, the state’s controversial Chief Justice said on Sunday that all probate judges should refuse to grant licenses to same-sex couples. That didn’t stop Jefferson County probate judge Alan King from issuing licenses after today’s Supreme Court ruling came down, reports Fox News.
Back in 2003, a state ethics panel removed Moore when he wouldn’t take down a Ten Commandments display in front of the court. He was then re-elected in 2012. Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has already raised an ethics challenge to Moore’s order.
“We congratulate the same-sex couples who are finally able to marry in our state, and we honor the probate judges who are following the Constitution of the United States rather than Chief Justice Moore's suggestion they defy it,” Cohen said on Monday.
Last month, the Supreme Court said it would finally rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. However, that decision will not be handed down until this summer.