Federal judge strikes down Alabama's gay marriage ban

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) A federal judge has struck down Alabama laws banning gay marriage.

U.S. District Callie V.S. Granade ruled Friday in favor of two Mobile women who sued to challenge Alabama’s refusal to recognize their marriage performed in California.

Plaintiffs Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand said that they had been a couple for more than a decade and had a child together with the help of a sperm donor. However, an Alabama court refused to let Searcy be recognized as the child’s adoptive parent because state law did not recognize the couple as spouses.

Granade said a state statute and 2006 amendment to the Alabama Constitution were both in violation of the equa-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.