The U.S. Supreme Court passed a sweeping ruling Friday effectively legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, but not everyone has been able to benefit. APR’s Alex AuBuchon has more on one Tuscaloosa couple’s struggle to get married.
“Hi. We’d like to request a marriage license…”
We met Jennifer Kenney and Hali Felt on Friday. The Tuscaloosa couple wanted to join the thousands of happy couples marrying after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but they were told they’d have to wait.
When they returned to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse earlier today, they were again disappointed.
“It’s really important for us…”
“I understand.”
“Thank you for understanding. I really appreciate that. I wish the judge understood, because it feels like a huge slap in the face. Because we are committed and we would like to enjoy all the rights and responsibilities that marriage entails.”
Chief Clerk Lisa Whitehead let Kenney and Felt submit an application for a marriage license – which listed them as bride and groom – but they were told they’d have to wait until July 17 or later to receive it.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in ruling in favor of Oklahoma’s lethal injection drug protocol. The decision is expected to clear the way for Alabama and other states to resume executions using lethal injections.
Strange says opponents of lethal injections have repeatedly used court challenges of certain lethal injection drugs as ways to delay or avoid lawful executions.
Alabama joined 12 other states in an amicus brief in support of Oklahoma’s right to use a three-drug lethal injection protocol. States, including Alabama, have adopted the three-drug protocol because of their inability to acquire other suitable drugs.
An Alabama veteran of World War two will return home seventy one years after his death.
The remains of Lieutenant Jimmie Collins will receive a burial with full military honors today in the city of Sylacauga. He and his crewmates were shot down in their B-24 bomber following a mission over Berlin in 1944.
The Defense Department’s P-O-W M-I-A Accounting Agency identified Collins’ remains.
Agency Spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Melinda Morgan says the case of each missing soldier is important…
“Someone recently asked me why it matters? And I went, well—as I have gone forward, it was comforting to my family as well as to me, to know that if I fell in combat, I wouldn’t be left nor would I be forgotten.”
Collins’ remains were identified by a DNA match to his aunt and uncle.