Judges in Alabama who oppose same-sex marriage are using a segregation-era law to make it optional for county clerks to issue marriage licenses. The law being used was rewritten in 1961 by Alabama’s then all-white legislature to help prevent mixed-race marriages and preserve racial segregation. That law is now being used by judges who are pulling out of issuing marriage licenses altogether rather than risk having to issue one to a same-sex couple.
Read it at AP