Today’s Chicken Soup Digest: Sweet Home Alabama

It's definitely been a crazy day for marriage equality in Alabama. After the state's chief justice told judges that they should ignore the Federal Court's reversal of the state's gay marriage ban, everyone from the KKK to Supreme Court of the United States has chimed in.

Here's today's Chicken Soup Digest for the Gay Soul…

Towleroad: “52 OF ALABAMA'S 67 COUNTIES ARE REFUSING TO ISSUE MARRIAGE LICENSES TO GAY COUPLES: MAP“

The majority of counties in Alabama, up to 52 of 67 by the count of HRC via the New York Times, are refusing to adequately process the paperwork required by law to issue marriages to same-sex couples.Key to above map: Red = not issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Green = issuing licenses to all couples. Yellow = not issuing licenses to any couples. Orange = accepting applications, issuing no licenses.The NYT adds:It was unclear how many of the judges were acting out of overt defiance and how many were simply weighing how to navigate a freshly jumbled legal landscape after Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.“We’ve got Alabama’s chief justice issuing an order, and we’ve got an order out from a federal judge,” said Judge Greg Norris of Monroe County, who is also president of the Alabama Probate Judges Association. “It’s just a very difficult situation.”

Huffington Post: “Alabama Marriage Equality Tantrum Is a Slap in the Face to All Americans”

I will never perform a so-called same-sex marriage. A federal court can put me in jail for life, and I will still never perform a so-called same-sex marriage. As a believer in the Word of God… I cannot, in good conscience, participate in a purported marriage ceremony, which I strongly believe would profane the sacred institution of marriage.This is not about hating people. Each of us needs to treat every other human being with dignity and respect, regardless of our diametrically opposing viewpoints on this divisive issue. But tolerance is a two-way street. Either there is tolerance for all, or there is tolerance for none. I want tolerance for my personal religious viewpoint.– Alabama Probate Judge John Enslen

Alabama Probate John Enslen thinks that not only his personal religious beliefs supersede federal law and the rights of United States citizens who fairly win their court cases, but they also mandate that he should get away with the dereliction of his sworn duty on the taxpayer's dime, even if some of those taxpayers are the people whose rights he is deliberately ignoring.

Good As You: “Photo: Anti-gay Alabama group helps critics link interracial marriage, same-sex marriage protests”

You can see where this is going…

Southern Poverty Law Center: “Klan Group Issues Calls to Arms Over Alabama Same-Sex Marriage Ruling”

In a latest attempt to capitalize on political and racial controversy, a Ku Klux Klan faction from Mississippi has initiated a “Call to arms in Alabama” in response to federal courts ruling that an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.The post, which appeared on the United Dixie White Knights’ (UDWK) website and later on Stormfront — the largest online white supremacist forum — championed Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for defying federal courts and called for Klansmen to leave their robes behind and take to the streets in protest.“The Mississippi Klan salutes Alabama’s chief justice Roy Moore, for refusing to bow to the yoke of Federal tyranny,” Brent Waller, the UDKW’s imperial wizard, wrote in a Stormfront post. “The fudge packers from Hollywood and all major news networks are in shock that the good people from the heart of Dixie are resisting their Imperialist, Communist Homosexual agenda!”

It is also no surprise that anti-gay hate groups including the Family Research Council, American Family Association and NOM have all put Roy Moore high on the hate horse.

Here's the FRC's Tony Perkins in an email that just arrived in my mailbox:

It may be the Supreme Court of the United States, but it isn't a united one. At least two justices are disgusted by the Court's activism on marriage — and they aren't afraid to show it. Hours before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to same-sex “marriage” in Alabama, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia took aim at their colleagues in a blistering criticism of the majority's decision. Instead of defending the will of the people, Thomas blasted the Court for “(looking) the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws.”This is “another example of this court's increasingly cavalier attitude toward the states,” Thomas fumed. “This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court's intended resolution of that question. This is not the proper way for the court to carry out its role,” he said, echoing the concerns of so many Americans, “and it is indecorous for this court to pretend that it is.” All the Court has done, Thomas laments, is create more chaos and confusion. “I would have shown the people of Alabama the respect they deserve and preserved the status quo while the Court resolves this important question.”Fortunately for Justice Thomas and anyone else who respects the rule of law, the Supreme Court certainly has an uphill climb imposing its will on Alabama. As of yesterday, only nine of Alabama's 67 counties were issuing same-sex “wedding” licenses in the strong show of support for the state's constitution that Judge Moore called for. “A lot of states in this union have caved to such unlawful authority, and this is not one,” Moore told CNN. “This is Alabama. We don't give up the recognition that law has bounds. It's my duty to speak up when I see the jurisdiction of our courts being intruded by unlawful federal authority.”While liberals scoffed at Moore's ability to sway the courts, most probate judges listened — shuttering license windows across Alabama in the most aggressive pushback to judicial activism Americans have seen since the courts began picking off state marriage amendments. By record numbers, other probates dropped out of their wedding obligations altogether. If there are consequences, Washington County Probate Judge Nick Williams said, so be it. “I'm not worried about following the U.S. Constitution.” In a refreshing change, Alabama is using the law to determine their actions — not the radical opinions of politically-motivated judges.

Another day is upon us in Alabama. More to come.