TRACKING CHANGE. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriages greatly impacts Georgia, one of the states that had banned them. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will continue its comprehensive coverage with in-depth stories on the aftermath of the ruling. Follow this online at myAJC.com.
On a cold and rainy February morning, about 20 state probate judges, vital records officials and court staffers gathered around a big table at the Courtyard by Marriott in Decatur, and prepped for the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling.
The decisions made in the banquet room, by officials who typically toil away out of the public spotlight, paved the way for Georgia’s smooth acceptance of same-sex marriage. Essentially the group agreed that Georgia’s probate judges, who issue marriage licenses, would comply with a ruling that legalized gay unions.
Georgia, in short, would not become Alabama where the judicial system was thrown into chaos over the issue, the state’s top judge openly urging defiance.
Tumult erupted in several other Southern states. But in Georgia, same-sex marriages were underway within hours after the high court ruled.
Looking behind the scenes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that there was a concerted, coordinated effort to ensure that Georgia’s response to the ruling was untroubled and that the implementation was well-ordered.
Clearly, many factors played a role. Atlanta is a Southern gay mecca, and despite many Georgians holding faith-based opposition to gay marriage many others here were ready for same-sex marriage to go mainstream.
Georgia leaders didn't strike a hostile tone, although records obtained by the AJC show Gov. Nathan Deal was under considerable pressure to resist. He was slammed with hundreds of letters, calls and petitions within hours of the ruling.
Georgia’s swift acquiescence surprised some. After all, it was among the 13 states that still banned same-sex unions.
But Georgia, and in particular Atlanta, has often crafted its policies and politics in accord with business interests. It’s part of the so-called Atlanta Way — that time-tested coordination of black and white leaders to craft a pro-business policy.
The well-ordered transition here could pay off, casting Georgia in a more tolerant light that attracts business, said Georgia State University Sociology Professor Eric Wright.
“That’s the shocking thing here. You haven’t heard anything about judges and clerks who are not willing to do it,” said Georgia State University Sociology Professor Eric Wright. “(State officials) know they can’t attract the best talent if there’s an impression that they are not embracing diversity.”
Again and again, state officials say the probate judges led the way. The judges started preparing months before the ruling, making it clear it would be obeyed. They created a unity of purpose among their ranks, and they had everything ready to go once the decision came down, said Lester Tate, chairman of the Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission, the state’s watchdog over judges.
“The probate judges council gets major credit for preparing for this decision,” he said. “They led the charge.”
The judges, for their part, say it started with that February meeting.
The meeting, the messages
Chase Daughtrey, then president of the State Council of Probate Judges, got right down to business.
Georgia will follow the law, he said to the group seated around the banquet room’s broad square table. Judges take an oath to obey the law, he reminded them, and the same-sex marriage ruling is no different.
He scanned the faces around the room and saw silent signs of assent.
Everything needs to be in place, he continued, every question answered.
Clearly the marriage license application, with its terms “bride” and “groom,” needed change.
More questions arose than answers. What if the court ruling only applies to the four states specifically in the case? What does that mean for Georgia?
“I wanted to look at every possible scenario,” Daughtrey, 33, recalled. “We tried to do our due diligence.”
The gay marriage decision highlighted the judges Spring conference in March, which was attended by virtually all of the 159 probate judges in the state. The leadership then commenced an education campaign in which emails were sent every few weeks to the judges.
By March, Alabama was experiencing the legal equivalent of Spaghetti Junction at rush hour — locked up and going nowhere. Probate judges there were at a loss for direction, stuck between a series of federal rulings that overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriages and a recent decision by the state’s highest court that upheld it.
Georgia took a different path.
“We didn’t want to be unprepared. We didn’t want it to look like the state had controversy,” said Don Wilkes, an Emanuel County probate court judge who took the helm of the judges council in March. “Maybe we learned something from the other states.”
Sending cues to the public
In April, both Gov. Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens publicly announced that they, and Georgia, would respect the court’s decision. That sent a clear message to the public.
“In Texas and Louisiana, you had the governor and attorney general crying out in open defiance,” Tate said. “That sends a message that it’s OK to do that.”
By May, the probate judges council had established a line of communication with the State Attorney General’s Office. It was agreed that the AG’s office would provide its interpretation of the ruling as soon as possible after the decision.
When the high court issued its decision on June 26, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed scarcely had time to urge state leaders to adhere to it before Olens’ office drafted its order for the courts to comply.
Atlanta's major businesses largely cheered the rulings. Delta Air Lines quickly bought billboards celebrating the court's decision and issued a statement announcing it welcomed the ruling with "great enthusiasm."
Chick-fil-A, the Georgia-based company that courted controversy when the son of its chief executive publicly slammed same-sex marriage, simply stayed mum.
Elsewhere around the South, things were less orderly. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican presidential candidate, sought to delay the enforcement of the ruling. He waited for a lower court ruling that ordered the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Gay weddings were on hold for days in Mississippi, too, until the Democratic Attorney General dropped his opposition to the ruling.
Some Alabama counties took days to begin approving same-sex marriages after Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, an ardent opponent of gay weddings, told probate judges they could wait 25 days to comply; others have stopped issuing the licenses altogether.
Moving like clockwork
The Supreme Court issued the gay marriage decision at about 10 a.m. on that Friday. By noon, the Georgia probate judges council had the opinion of the state attorney general in hand and were sending it electronically to judges around the state, along with a new marriage application that listed the participants as “Applicant 1” and “Applicant 2.”
Gay weddings commenced shortly thereafter.
On top of that, council leadership made spot-check calls to judges, just to ensure they received it.
A few delays occurred but didn’t last long. In Catoosa, the judge was on vacation and the court was awaiting formal notification from the state to issue licenses. In Whitfield, the probate judge questioned whether the implementation was immediate. The probate judges council reached out to them and helped resolve the issues, Daughtrey said.
Deal’s decision to comply with the court’s ruling helped set the tone. But it won him some critics as well.
“Actions speak louder than words,” wrote Charles Griggs, who is among those emailers who urged Deal to convene a special session to defy the ruling. “It is more important to send a clear message that Georgia leaders will not stand idly by and do nothing as the Supreme Court continues calculated legal destruction of state rights that makes our democracy so strong.”
In the end, Deal praised the way the state and the people of Georgia reacted.
“We don’t want anything negative or bad to come out of that decision as it reflects on the state of Georgia,” Deal said, “and I’m proud the people of Georgia haven’t allowed that to happen.”
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