Same-sex marriage in Alabama

Same-sex marriage in Alabama has been legal since a ruling by a U.S. District Court on January 23, 2015, in Searcy v. Strange.

Statute
On August 29, 1996, Governor Fob James issued an executive order banning same-sex marriage and recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states or foreign countries.

On April 9, 1998, the Alabama State House voted 79-12 in favor of a ban on same-sex marriage and recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states or foreign countries. On April 13, 1998, the Alabama State Senate approved the bill in a 30-0 vote. Governor Fob James signed it into law.

Constitution
On March 8, 2006, the Alabama State House voted 85-7 in favor of Amendment 774, a constitutional amendment to the Constitution of Alabama which bans same-sex marriage and a "union replicating marriage of or between persons of the same sex" in the state. On March 11, 2006, the Alabama State Senate approved the bill in a 30-0 vote. On June 6, 2006, Alabama voters passed the amendment into the state's constitution.

Hard v. Bentley
On February 13, 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on behalf of Paul Hard challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage, both in its statutes and constitution. Hard and his late husband, David Fancher, Alabama natives, wed in Massachusetts on May 20, 2011. Fancher died in an accident on August 1. The suit, Hard v. Bentley, names the governor, Robert J. Bentley, as defendant, along with several other government officials Hard is asking for a corrected death certificate and recognition as Fancher's surviving spouse, entitled to a share of the proceeds of a wrongful death suit filed by the administrator of Fancher's estate.

Searcy v. Strange
Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit, originally Searcy v. Bentley, on May 7, 2014, seeking recognition of their out-of-state marriage and step-parent adoption for their minor daughter. In mid-June, attorneys for the same-sex couple filed a motion for summary judgment; the state defendants filed a motion to dismiss. On January 23, 2015, Judge Callie V.S. Granada ruled that Alabama's refusal to license and recognize same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. She ordered the state Attorney General to stop enforcing those bans. The plaintiffs' attorneys hoped the state would comply, though other LGBT rights advocates anticipated further litigation. Legislative leaders denounced the ruling of "a single unelected and unaccountable federal judge" or saw the ruling as evidence that "traditional values espoused by Alabamians have begun to erode even in our conservative state." Attorney General Luther Strange immediately asked for a stay of her ruling.