Same-Sex Couples Marry in Alabama in Defiance of State Judge's Decree

Pictured: Tori Sisson & Shante Wolfe, were married Feb. 9, 2015 at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Alabama. | Photo via Instagram

Alabama is now the 37th state to allow same-sex marriage. The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court refused a request by Alabama's attorney general to put a say on the marriages until the SCOTUS decided whether laws banning them are constitutional.

According to Reuters, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore also attempted to stop the marriages by trying to block probate judges from issuing marriages licenses to gays and lesbians.

As The Advocate reports, Moore's previous efforts at stopping marriage equality inspired ethics charges and demands for his termination from groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Human Rights Campaign. HRC legal director Sarah Warbelow cited Moore's most recent failed attempt as all the more reason he "ought to be sanctioned," adding, "This is a pathetic, last-ditch attempt at judicial fiat by an Alabama Supreme Court justice -- a man who should respect the rule of law rather than advance his personal beliefs."

U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled in January that Alabama's prohibition on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional but put her decision on hold until Monday.

Two SCOTUS justices, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, dissented from the court's decision not to delay the weddings in Alabama.

In a dissenting opinion, Thomas hinted that the court's actions in allowing marriages to go ahead "may well be seen as a signal of the court's intended resolution of that question."

April Presley (left) and wife LeAnn Presley (right) of Huntsville, Alabama have been together for 16 years. They were married this morning. "We've been waiting on this day forever," said Presley. For a live update of the marriages taking place around Alabama, visit HRC's blog.