Alabama Gains Marriage Equality

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Can you believe it?  The Washington Blade reports:

A federal judge in Alabama has become the latest to strike down a state ban on same-sex marriage, ruling against the Yellowhammer State’s prohibition on gay nuptials on the basis that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment. In a 10-page decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade, an appointee of George W. Bush, issued summary judgement in favor of a plaintiff same-sex couple, finding Alabama marriage laws violate the couple’s right to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. “There has been no evidence presented that these marriage laws have any effect on the choices of couples to have or raise children, whether they are same-sex couples or opposite-sex couples,” Granade writes. “In sum, the laws in question are an irrational way of promoting biological relationships in Alabama.”

Judge Granade, appointed to the bench by George W. Bush in 2002, did not stay her ruling, which struck down both the anti-gay Alabama statute and constitutional amendment as being violations of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. Full text of the ruling here.

Luther Strange, the Alabama Attorney General, has announced through a spokesman that he will appeal the ruling.