Alabama Discriminates Against Interracial Couples And Immigrants, Not Only Gay Marriage

If Alabama government wanted to abandon its legacy as one of the most racist, sexist, homophobic, immigrant-hating states in and out of the Union, it’s not doing a good job. On Monday, 50 of Alabama’s 67 counties refused to grant same-sex marriage licenses to gay couples, possibly in violation of U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow those unions to occur. These were likely not activists judges, but functionaries caught in a legal tussle between the state and federal supreme court.

As activist judges across the state refused to grant licenses to same-sex couples, Alabama’s Governor, Attorney General, and other top officials all went on record disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“The Alabama Legislature did its part,” said Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, “to make clear that the definition of marriage is between and man and a women by passing the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment, which voters approved by an overwhelming 81% margin. The remaining issues lie in the hands of the state and federal courts.”

"I figured that we would be that last ones — I mean, they would drag Alabama kicking and screaming to equality," said Laura Bush, who was married to her partner in Birmingham by one of the judges who was complying with the Federal and not the State Supreme Court orders.

Alabama voters have not been favorable to marriage rights in the past. It was only in 2000 that Alabama was the last state to repeal a ban interracial marriage. The proposal passed by an underwhelming 60%. Xenophobia and fear of minorities seems to be a part of Alabama’s lifeblood. As Aaron Blake of the Washington Post pointed out, the state’s opposition to gay marriage is part of a longer political tradition.

“[Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore] asked that local authorities ignore a federal mandate to issue same-sex marriage licenses -- to the most famous action ever taken by a governor of that state: George Wallace's 1963 blockade of the auditorium door at the University of Alabama.”

Alabama’s leaders, literally standing in the way of integration, have taken shots at their state’s immigrant population as well. In 2011, legislators passed a draconian anti-immigrant law that sought to, among many questionable provisions, punish landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants. Like Arizona’s unconstitutional S.B. 1070 law, it led to racial profiling and was largely overturned as being unconstitutional.