Alabama Gay Rights Now, Civil Rights Then

by Debbie Hines

Alabama is once again on the wrong side of history as it attempts to circumvent a federal court’s decision declaring the Alabama state ban on same sex marriage to be unconstitutional.  Despite a federal judge ruling that same sex marriage is legal in Alabama, another state judge, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court forbid the judges and courts from issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples this week.   The Supreme Court refused to hear the federal case on Monday and thereby left the federal court’s decision intact.  Federal Judge Granade  who issued the federal decision making same sex marriage legal in Alabama is surprisingly an appointee of former President George W. Bush. But that did not stop many counties in Alabama from refraining to issue marriage licenses.  Some counties did comply with the law.

The refusal for Alabama to comply with the law on same sex marriage is a reminder of how Alabama dealt with civil rights issues and laws in the 1960’s.   As we are still in Black History Month, it is worth noting that  Alabama's handling of gay rights  now is how it handled civil rights and desegregation in the 1960's. During the 1960’s, the now infamous Alabama Governor George Wallace defied  federal courts when segregation was banned.  Wallace who was famous for his 1963 speech, “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow and Segregation Forever”  stood in opposition to the law of the land declaring an end to segregation and allowing African Americans to attend schools and universities along with white Americans.  He not only spoke in defiance but acted upon his words as the present political officials in Alabama are doing with gay rights. Wallace stood at the doors of the University of Alabama in defiance to prohibit blacks from registering and entering the school in 1963.  And we see how the same dark history is playing out today in Alabama with same sex marriage.