Quote Of The Day - Paul Hard

"Four years ago, this journey began in grief and pain. I am grateful that the courts have ruled that it will end in justice and equality for couples like David and me. I pray that equality for LGBT Americans continues and need not be won at the cost of sorrow and turmoil. I hope that this decision marks a new day for Alabamians and others in the public’s recognition of my marriage and a love that is equal to any other." - Paul Hard (above right with his late husband), who last week finally won his legal battle against his evil former mother-in-law.

Hard was represented by the SPLC, who announced the closure of the case today. Here's how it all started:

Hard, an assistant professor at a Montgomery area university, and Fancher were married in May 2011 in Massachusetts. Fancher was killed three months later when his car collided with a large truck on Alabama’s Interstate 65. Hard sued the trucking companies in a separate case not filed by the SPLC, and that suit was settled in July 2014. On the morning of the accident, when Hard arrived at the hospital in Prattville, Alabama, a receptionist refused to give him any information about his husband. He was told he was not a member of Fancher’s “family” and that gay marriages weren’t recognized in Alabama. Finally, a hospital orderly told Hard, “Well, he’s dead.” After receiving the traumatic news, a funeral home director cited Alabama law in insisting that the death certificate indicate Fancher was never married – even though Fancher and Hard were legally married in Massachusetts. Likewise, the state would not recognize Hard as the surviving spouse. Fancher’s mother, Pat Fancher, sought to be the sole beneficiary of the wrongful death suit proceeds, even though Hard was due a portion as the surviving spouse.

The mother-in-law was represented by the Foundation For Moral Law, which was founded by Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore after he was first booted from the bench. Since Moore's reelection the group has been headed by Moore's wife, Kayla Moore. The SPLC has filed unrelated judicial ethics complaints against Roy Moore for his calls to defy the US Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling.

ALABAMA: SPLC Updates Complaint That Roy Moore Has Violated Judicial Ethics

AL.com reports:

In its filing today, SPLC says Moore has committed new ethics violations by improperly commenting on pending or impending cases in numerous speeches and interviews; by suggesting that Supreme Court precedent need not be followed; and by announcing that he would recuse himself from cases rather than apply precedents with which he disagreed. The SPLC also contends Moore's continued association with the Foundation for Moral Law also violates the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics. Moore's wife, Kayla, services as the president of the legal services organization; Moore is listed as president emeritus.

"Justice Moore has been removed from office for unethical actions once before, but it's clear that he hasn't learned his lesson," SPLC President Richard Cohen said in a statement. "It's obviously unethical for him to urge defiance of a United States Supreme Court ruling. He needs to understand that he is a judge, not a preacher." The SPLC complaint states that in a July 7 interview with political activist Randall Terry, Moore indicated that he was in "active" conflict with the federal judiciary over its "horrendous opinion" in the same-sex marriage case and was fighting the same-sex ruling with briefs and speeches.

The SPLC's original complaint, filed in January, contends that Moore is "encouraging lawlessness by attempting to assemble state officials and judges to oppose the federal court system."

ALABAMA: Evil Mother-In-Law LOSES, Court Orders Big Payout To Gay Widower

Evil Alabama mother-in-law Pat Fancher and the Foundation For Moral Law have finally lost their attempt to deny gay widower Paul Hard the proceeds from a wrongful death suit filed on behalf of his late husband, who died in a car accident in 2011. Equality Case Files has the order:

The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to issue a check drawn on ServisFirst Bank where the funds are deposited in a money market account for the principal amount of $552,956.69, plus ninety percent of all interest earned to date that is due for distribution to Plaintiff Paul Hard. This check shall be made payable to Servis First Bank. ServisFirst Bank shall provide the Clerk of the Court with official checks payable to: a. The Southern Poverty Law Center Client Trust Account in the principal amount of $552,956.69, plus ninety percent interest earned to date; and b. The Clerk of the Court for ten percent of all interest earned to date to the U.S. Treasury.

Two weeks ago the Foundation For Moral Law filed an argument which claimed that the Obergefell ruling does not apply retroactively to unsettled legal claims.

"The issue is not whether someone may marry a member of the same sex today. The issue is whether a court may or should look back four years and recognize a marriage that was not legally valid. Of course, if the marriage is recognized it will only cause further economic harm to a family which has already lost one its own. And if recognized, this man will be awarded an entire spousal share of the wrongful death proceeds which would be unjust even under normal circumstances considering the two were 'married' less than 3 months."

Immediately following the above-linked ruling, the Foundation For Moral Law filed a motion to set aside the order. The same judge responded by saying, "Didn't I just say go fuck yourself?"

RELATED: The Foundation For Moral Law was headed by Roy Moore until he won reelection to the Alabama Supreme Court. The group is now headed by his wife, Kayla Moore. The Foundation For Moral Law openly advocates for replacing the government of the United States with a Christian theocracy ruled by "biblical law."

TRIAL VIDEO: Ex-Gay JONAH Witness Explains How Naked Dance Parties With Men Totally Made Him Straight

Via the SPLC:

This is a condensed version of a sworn video deposition presented at a June 2015 trial in New Jersey: Ferguson v. JONAH. Conversion therapy provider JONAH offered Hoffman as a “success story” witness claiming that conversion therapy works to change sexual orientation from gay to straight. A jury unanimously decided that JONAH is liable for consumer fraud for misrepresentations including that its program was effective in changing sexual orientation from gay to straight.

You have GOT to watch this. "It's literally just a fun 'boy' atmosphere where men are just having a lot of fun together experiencing their wild side. By the time the 'wild party' comes along everybody just kind of joins the fun unclothed. After the 'wild party' they are led to the showers."

(Via Equality Case Files)

Christopher Doyle Has The JONAH Sadz

"Because of the lack of respect by Judge Bariso for JONAH’s spiritual practices, it was practically impossible for the jury to hand down a not-guilty verdict. At nearly every point before, during and after testimony was given, the judge undermined JONAH’s freedom of religion. Potential jurors who believed homosexuality is a sin were screened out; defense attorney Charles Limandri was not allowed to discuss JONAH’s 1st Amendment freedom of religious expression in his closing arguments; and Judge Bariso effectively handicapped JONAH’s ability to defend itself by cutting out the ability to argue with a synthesis of faith and science, which would have been a true reflection of their religious counseling program. In order to mount an appeal, JONAH’s attorneys, the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, will need upwards of a million dollars. This is in addition to the three million it already cost for the initial defense, and the nearly four million JONAH might have to pay for the Plaintiff’s legal costs should the guilty verdict be upheld." - Ex-gay crackpot Christopher Doyle, in a money beg posted today on BarbWire.

Maggie Gallagher Has The JONAH Sadz

"The Blaze is reporting that an independent film about same-sex attraction called 'Audacity' had generated 130,000 views for its trailer on YouTube when the trailer was abruptly pulled by YouTube in response to user complaints. YouTube has not specifically said why the trailer was pulled, but its policies include 'commercially deceptive' content as a possible reason. I have not seen the trailer in question, but it occurs to me to ask: are we seeing the first fruits of a new post-JONAH strategy by the gay rights community to shut down speech? The SPLC had announced that 70 other religious nonprofits that help people with same-sex attraction live 'nongay' lives were in its targets. But I wonder, are these the first fruits of their victory?" - Maggie Gallagher, referring to the latest anti-gay film by banana man Ray Comfort. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

BREAKING: SPLC Wins Fraud Suit Against New Jersey "Ex-Gay" Torture Group

NJ.com reports:

A New Jersey jury on Thursday found a non-profit group that provides gay-to-straight conversion therapy guilty of consumer fraud for promising clients they could overcome their sexual urges by undressing in front of other men, pummeling an effigy of their mothers, and re–enacting traumatic childhood experiences.

In the first case in the nation to put the controversial practice on trial, the jury concluded that Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk, the founders of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing in Jersey City and life coach Alan Downing to whom JONAH referred patients, "engaged in unconscionable commercial practices" and misrepresented their services.

The verdict requires JONAH and Downing to refund thousands of dollars paid by former clients Michael Ferguson, Benjamin Unger, Sheldon Bruck, Chaim Levin, and parents Jo Bruck and Bella Levin for the individual and group counseling sessions and the "journey into manhood" weekends in the woods. Downing charged $60 to $100 for group and individual sessions but shared 20 percent with JONAH to help defray its administrative costs.

The SPLC says they will now seek an injunction to force JONAH from operating. They'll also seek legal fees. What a terrible, terrible month for Maggie Gallagher!

Tony Perkins: The SPLC Has Created A "Jihad Hit List" Of Anti-Islamic Women

Quote Of The Day - Maggie Gallagher

"By some mysterious providence, three things happened in the past few weeks: Rachel Dolezal was outed as a white woman. Bruce Jenner was lauded as a white woman. And in a New Jersey consumer-fraud case against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), the Southern Poverty Law Center has spent millions to deprive any future New Jerseyans of the basic right even to try to change their sexual orientation. Together they lay down the new moral rules: Apparently, you can change your racial identity, but if you do, you are lying. You can dress up as a woman on the cover of Vanity Fair, and everyone must believe that you are in fact female. But when it comes to sexual orientation, even the attempt to change your identity or behavior must be viewed as an imposition against the laws of nature, if not nature’s God." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for the National Review. Gallagher is the head of the legal group defending "ex-gay" torture against the SPLC's  lawsuit. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

NEW JERSEY: SPLC Attorney Shreds Head Of "Ex-Gay" Group During Fraud Trial

The SPLC's fraud lawsuit against the New Jersey-based "ex-gay" group JONAH has been underway since last week. Via New Jersey Jewish News:

On the trial’s second day, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Lina Bensman pointed out that Goldberg was a disbarred attorney who in 1989 was incarcerated for six months on federal tax fraud and conspiracy charges while heading a New York underwriting firm. She asked why he had occasionally identified himself as a “doctor,” although he was not a physician and had no PhD. “I am a JD, a juris doctor,” he explained. Goldberg also acknowledged that he used the title “rabbi” on occasion, although he was not ordained. “I was not a rabbi,” he said. “I have no formal religious training other than going to a yeshiva in grade school.”

Goldberg also testified, “I have never been a licensed counselor. I give advice.” But after being shown a signed document projected on a video screen, Goldberg acknowledged he had applied to the American Psychotherapy Association to become a certified relationship specialist and a certified professional counselor. “But these certifications were revoked?” asked Bensman. “Yes, ma’am” he replied. “And the certifications read, ‘I certify I have not been convicted of a felony’?” “That is correct,” he said. Under questioning by his own attorney, Goldberg said he believed that his felony fraud and conspiracy convictions were essentially nullified more than 20 years after his guilty pleas in 1989, allowing him to check “no” on the application.

More about Goldberg from the Village Voice:

In 1987, prosecutors accused Goldberg of orchestrating a massive municipal-bond fraud scheme, essentially selling more than $2 billion in bogus bonds between 1985 and 1986 to finance public works projects in smaller, rural, and often poor communities in the Midwest. Most of the projects were never completed, and Goldberg was eventually charged with 52 counts of bribery, fraud, and conspiracy, among other things, by a federal grand jury. He later pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud in California. The scheme cost the U.S. Treasury millions in lost taxes, and Matthews & Wright Inc. lost its license to sell securities and later dissolved completely.

Goldberg, who testified before a jury on June 8, declined on several occasions to speak on the record for this article. One day at the JONAH offices in Jersey City he confronted a Voice reporter, asking her to leave the building and calling her presence "absolutely inappropriate and out of line." He would later agree to answer a few questions, through his lawyer, via email. "Over 100 people lost their jobs and a good career because of what Arthur did, and that's just pure greed," Goldberg's former colleague says. "And he never apologized to anyone. I hoped he'd get life [in prison]. If I'd run into him on the street, I'd grab him by the throat."

Hit the first link for more about the trial and the second for an excellent and lengthy history of the "ex-gay" movement. Equality Case Files is attending the trial and is posting transcripts of the proceedings. JONAH is being defended by a legal group headed by Maggie Gallagher.

UPDATE: Check out how hate group leader Austin Ruse characterizes Goldberg over at Breitbart:

All his life Arthur Goldberg was a liberal New York Jew, almost stereotypical. He fought for civil rights for African Americans, he fought for better housing for New York’s poor, the whole schmear of respectable liberal causes. And then his son came out as gay and Arthur wanted to help him. When they founded JONAH, neither Goldberg or Berk knew that choice in sexual orientation or choice in psychological counseling would become a third rail in progressive politics. Now they are the target of one of the richest and most powerful left-wing groups in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center — with $340 in the bank and revenues of $50 million a year — is a group with almost limitless money to spend on litigation and it, along with activist Wayne Besen of a group called Truth Wins Out, have spent millions to put JONAH out of business and to punish Goldberg and Berk for trying to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

NEW JERSEY: Jury Hears Openings In "Ex-Gay" Fraud Suit Filed by SPLC

Via the Associated Press:

The four plaintiffs sued Jersey City-based JONAH in 2012, claiming the group violated state consumer fraud laws by characterizing homosexuality as a mental disorder and claiming it could successfully change patients' sexual orientation. The plaintiffs say they underwent treatment that included being told to spend more time naked with their fathers and participating in role-playing in which they were subjected to anti-gay slurs in a locker room setting. "My clients needed help but JONAH lied and JONAH made it worse," plaintiffs' attorney David Diniello told jurors. "All they got was junk science and so-called cures."

Three of the four plaintiffs were young men from Orthodox Jewish families in Brooklyn, Diniello said, who were grappling with their sexuality in a culture in which "there were no gay people" and there was pressure to marry and have children. The fourth, Michael Ferguson, is a Mormon who sought out JONAH. Attorney Charles LiMandri, representing JONAH, said none of the four asked for their money back at the time. "All four of these men left JONAH on good terms, speaking glowingly" of their experience and referring it to friends, he said. It was only after being contacted by activists that they denounced the organization, he said. "The plaintiffs became aggressors after they left JONAH to destroy JONAH," LiMandri said.

One plaintiff reports that the "therapy" included beating a pillow with a tennis racket while screaming about his mother. (You might remember "ex-gay" nutter Richard Cohen demonstrating this on CNN.) In 2012 plaintiff Chaim Levin told Truth Wins Out that his JONAH treatment included "removing my clothing and touching myself in a locked room" while the counselor watched.

NEW JERSEY: SPLC's Fraud Suit Against "Ex-Gay" Group Begins This Week

Via the SPLC:

Jury selection is underway in the SPLC’s landmark consumer fraud case against a New Jersey provider of conversion therapy, which purports to turn gay people straight. Opening arguments in the Superior Court of New Jersey are expected to begin on either Tuesday, June 2 or Wednesday, June 3. The SPLC filed the suit – Michael Ferguson, et al., v. JONAH – in 2012 against conversion therapy provider JONAH for deceptive practices that lured plaintiffs into the expensive, harmful therapy. The case, brought under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, is the first of its kind nationally. “This case is about exposing the lie that LGBT people are mentally ill and that they need to be cured,” said David Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal director. “Groups like JONAH should not be allowed to use bogus therapy, based on junk science, to scam LGBT people and their families out of thousands of dollars.”

More from Mic.com:

According to the complaint filed at the case's inception, customers of JONAH's services typically paid a minimum of $100 for weekly individual counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy sessions, with some paying as much as $10,000 a year for the services. The lawsuit describes sessions in which unlicensed therapists ordered them to strip naked and touch their genitals while saying negative things about themselves in front of a mirror, group exercises involving the reenactment of childhood sexual abuse and the use of homophobic slurs while the plaintiffs tried to grab a pair of oranges meant to symbolize testicles.

"Stuck in the past": According to every mainstream mental health authority in the United States, JONAH's practices fall so far outside the mainstream as to be unethical, even dangerous. "It's unethical for counselors to be involved in reparative therapy," David Kaplan, chief professional officer and former president of the American Counseling Association, told Mic. "It's not a mental health intervention — it's a religious practice."

Kaplan is such an outspoken critic of conversion therapy that he dislikes even using the word "therapy" to describe the practice. "A lot of us refer to it as 'sexual orientation change efforts.' 'Therapy' connotes a mental health intervention. This is not a mental health intervention. A mental health intervention relates to the diagnosis and treatment of a mental disorder. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder. There's nothing to fix, there's nothing to repair, there's nothing to convert."

Former NOM chairman Maggie Gallagher heads the legal group defending JONAH. Yesterday Gallagher told CBN that "it will be fun to beat the Southern Poverty Law Center."

Harlem Hate Pastor James David Manning: Sodomy Is A White Person's Disease

"Germany is a big hotbed for sodomy and everybody knows about France. And then of course in Belgium, and the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and Sweden, and Norway, and Finland. All that region is the hotbed and origination of modern sodomy. Not in China. You're not gonna find that in China. You're not gonna find that in India. You're not gonna find it in Africa. You're not gonna find it. It isn't there. Sodomy is a white people's disease. Now don't go thinking I'm speaking racially here. I'm just identifying a spade as a spade. Look into the eyes of these sodomite women and sodomite men. They are sick! They are demon possessed! They are possessed by the devil himself. Don't you go to sleep around a person who is a sodomite."- Harlem hate Pastor James David Manning, in today's YouTube sermon. Earlier this month Manning's church was added to the SPLC's list of hate groups.

Harlem Hate Church Has New Message

(Via JMG reader Roldan)

TEXAS: Southern Poverty Law Center Adds Two Churches To Hate Groups List

Via John Wright at the Texas Observer:

Pastor Donnie Romero has gone viral. “I’m going to explain to you why God wants these people to be put to death,” Romero declared during a sermon in December. “The word of God is very clear that God is against the sodomites, that they’re filthy, and it says they’re an abomination to God.” A clip from Romero’s sermon, posted on YouTube by Right Wing Watch, has been viewed more than 28,000 times. It also helped land Romero’s Fort Worth church on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual list of active anti-LGBT hate groups.

“Their gay-bashing is intense,” said Heidi Beirich, director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project. “Stedfast Baptist Church is very crude in its hatred. That’s not a complicated thing to explain why we put them on the hate list.” Romero didn’t return a phone call seeking comment. Stedfast Baptist is one of two Texas-based organizations added to the list this year. The other is Probe Ministries of Plano. They joined longstanding designee Tom Brown Ministries of El Paso. The increase in Texas contributed to a 10 percent jump in anti-LGBT hate groups nationwide, from 40 to 44.

Also added to the list are Pastor James David Manning's ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem (shocker!) and the Jewish Political Action Committee. See the SPLC's current list of anti-LGBT hate groups.

Face The Nation Host To Tony Perkins: We Almost Didn't Have You On Because You Are A Known Hate Group Leader

Via Crooks & Liars:

As the nation prepares for the Supreme Court to possibly decide whether same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, it was clear on Sunday that even anti-gay crusader Tony Perkins was having difficulty being taken seriously by the mainstream media. During a discussion about marriage equality on Face the Nation, CBS host Bob Schieffer began by noting that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) had determined that Perkins' organization, the Family Research Council, was a "hate group." "The Southern Poverty Law Center has branded the Family Research Council an anti-gay hate group," Schieffer explained as if it were a warning to his viewers. "We have been inundated by people who say we should not even let you appear because they, in their view -- quote -- you don't speak for Christians."

Perkins brushed off Shieffer's introduction and then denied that he has called for impeaching the Supreme Court. Which he just did two days ago. Watch the clip and stick around for Evan Wolfson's typically thoughtful reactions.

ALABAMA: AG Files Motion Opposing Class Action Status Of New Marriage Suit

"The number and rate of developments has been dizzying as officials came to different conclusions about their legal obligations and as parties tried to intervene in the initial cases and bring other officials under the Court’s injunction. The Court should not further undermine the relationship between the state and federal courts by granting Plaintiffs leave to drastically change the nature of this case at this late date. Granting the relief the Plaintiffs seek will only add to all the chaos and confusion in Alabama, and will only increase the tension between the state and federal courts. The only wise and judicious course of action is to deny the motion to amend and wait until June when the United States Supreme Court will resolve the constitutionality of same sex marriage in a way that will be binding on all federal judges and all state officials." - Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, in today's motion opposing last week's marriage equality suit which calls for class action status.

ALABAMA: Civil Rights Groups File Class Action Demand For Marriage Equality

Via press release:

A group of leading national civil rights organizations today filed a motion requesting a federal district court to expand a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage and to order all county probate judges in the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The joint motion was filed by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The request, filed as part of a lawsuit brought by five same-sex couples who previously obtained an order from the same court requiring issuance of marriage licenses in Mobile County, seeks class-action status that would include all same-sex couples in Alabama who wish to marry and have their marriage recognized by the state.

The motion requests that the federal district court expand their lawsuit to cover all county probate judges in the state. In Alabama, probate judges are responsible for issuing marriage licenses. Today’s filing requests the federal district court order to require all probate judges to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday halted same-sex marriages in the state despite the U.S Supreme Court’s refusal to stay a lower court’s decision invalidating the ban. “If Alabama officials thought we were going to sit back and allow them to deny same-sex couples their constitutional right to marry, they thought wrong,” said Ayesha N. Khan, legal director of Americans United. “We are going to fight for these couples.

See the full filing.

American Family Association Publishes "Bigotry Map" Of LGBT, Atheist, Humanist, And Civil Rights Groups

We can only presume that this is the secret weapon teased by the American Family Association late last year. Via press release:

The American Family Association has identified over 200 groups and organizations that openly display bigotry toward the Christian faith. The website includes an interactive map that identifies groups whose actions are deeply intolerant of the Christian religion. Their actions have endorsed efforts to silence Christians and to remove all public displays of Christian heritage and faith in America.

A common practice of these groups is threatening our nation’s schools, cities and states. By threat of lawsuit, they demand that prayer be removed from schools and city council meetings, Ten Commandments monuments stricken from courthouses and memorial crosses purged from cemeteries and parks.

Because of anti-Christian bigotry, private business owners have been sued and forced to close their businesses. Families and businesses that express a Christian worldview on social issues often face vicious retaliation from anti-Christian zealots. Some members or supporters of these groups have committed violent crimes against Christians and faith-based groups. Physical and profane verbal assaults against Christians are methods frequently exercised in their angry methods of intimidation.

The "Homosexual Agenda" groups identified on the map are the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and dozens of local chapters of the Gay & Lesbian Student Education Network (GLSEN), who get this description: "GLSEN infiltrates public schools with pro-homosexual indoctrination tactics, confusing many young people and misleading them into making dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle choices that will negatively affect their entire lives." HRC's description: "Part of Human Rights Campaign’s driving agenda is legalizing homosexual marriage by judicial activism, bullying American corporations to embrace sexual perversion and encouraging lawsuits against Christian-owned businesses and states." Also listed under "Homosexual Agenda," interestingly, is the AARP.

Listed under "Anti-Christian" are the SPLC, People For The American Way, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ACLU. Listed under humanist groups are the Freethinkers Society and dozens of similar groups. Atheists groups listed include American Atheists and dozens of state and local atheist organizations.

Perhaps obviously, this AFA map is meant to counter the Southern Poverty Law Center's map of hate groups. For the last few years the AFA and other hate groups have demanded that the SPLC take down their map. Those demands escalated in 2012 after a mentally ill man shot a security guard at the DC office of the Family Research Council, later telling the FBI that he used the SPLC's map to find their office. Like the SPLC, the AFA's map only lists the city and state of each group and no actual address is provided.

It's rather amusing that a group whose de facto spokesman regularly calls for the imprisonment of millions of LGBT Americans and who has repeatedly declared that non-Christians have no place in the United States has the gall to publish a "bigotry map."

ALABAMA: State Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Liberty Counsel's Marriage Petition

Last last night the Alabama Supreme Court agreed to consider the petition for a writ of mandamus filed on Wednesday by Liberty Counsel.

In a 6-2 decision issued late Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court set up a schedule next week for the different sides to file their answers and briefs on the request by the Alabama Policy Institute and Alabama Citizens Action Program. The court, however, did not say whether it would hold a hearing for oral arguments before responding to the petition. The order stated the briefs by probate judges should address issues raised by the petition, including whether the state Supreme Court even has jurisdiction to hear the petition.

Answers and briefs by probate judges are to be filed by 5 p.m. Feb. 18 and then ALCAP and API will have a chance to respond by 5 p.m. Feb. 20. API and ALCAP, which both oppose gay marriage, on Wednesday filed their emergency petition for a writ of mandamus declaring the state's ban on same-sex unions is still in force and to halt any probate judge from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

ALCAP and API name those county probate judges who have begun issuing licenses to same-sex couples in response to U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade's order declaring Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Chief Justice Roy Moore, who has been the most outspoken in advising probate judges not to issue same-sex licenses, was the only justice not listed as taking part in Friday's decision.

Yesterday a coalition of pro-LGBT groups filed their own petition asking the state Supreme Court to dismiss the Liberty Counsel's demand.

"This request before the Alabama Supreme Court is nothing but an attempt at delaying the happiness that all families deserve - a last-ditch, failing effort to stand in the way of the love we've seen in this historic week," Ben Cooper, board chair of Equality Alabama, said in a statement released Friday night. "The petition should be dismissed, and all probate judges in every corner of the state should follow the law." That brief was filed on behalf of Equality Alabama by counsel from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU of Alabama Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.