ALABAMA: Three Counties Relent

It's possible that these counties are reacting to a statement made last night by the governor.

Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican and a Southern Baptist, said he believes strongly that marriage is between one man and one woman, but that the issue should be "worked out through the proper legal channels" and not through defiance of the law. The governor noted that Alabama is about to be in the spotlight again with the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed after civil rights marchers were attacked and beaten in Selma, Alabama — events chronicled in the Oscar-nominated movie "Selma." "I don't want Alabama to be seen as it was 50 years ago when a federal law was defied. I'm not going to do that," Bentley said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

The three counties have a combined population of 280,000. That still leaves more than 50 counties who are not serving gay couples.