Woman held after trying to perform same-sex marriage

PRATTVILLE –

An Autauga County woman was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct Tuesday morning after offering to perform a same sex marriage inside the probate judge's office.

Anne Susan Diprizio, 44, of the 300 block of Cambridge Street, is charged with disorderly conduct, said Dave Hill, chief deputy of the Autauga County Sheriff's Office. She was being processed in the Autauga Metro Jail after her arrest and was unavailable for comment. Courthouse records show she doesn't have an attorney.

She was being held on a bond of $1,000, Hill said. Deputies were called to the probate office, which is located one block from the courthouse, about 10:30 a.m. Probate Judge Al Booth asked for assistance, Hill said.

"Judge Booth said there was a lady in the office who wouldn't leave when he asked her to leave," Hill said.

Deputies asked Diprizio to leave several times, but she refused. When Capt. Tom Allen told her she was either going to leave the office or be arrested, she got up from the chair she was sitting in and kneeled in the floor. Allen handcuffed her and led her across the street to the Autauga Metro Jail.

Courtney Cannon and Morgan Plunkett had received a marriage license from the probate office, and Cannon said Diprizio offered to perform the ceremony inside the probate office.

The Autauga County Probate Office stopped performing all marriage ceremonies on Friday. Booth then said the decision to stop performing the ceremonies was related to work flow, not a recent federal court order lifting the state's ban on same sex marriages.

"I don't even know her name, but she said she was an ordained minister and wanted to marry us," Cannon said of Diprizio. "She was standing up for our rights to get married. Judge Booth called the deputies after he told her to leave."

Cannon and Plunkett, both from Autauga County, have been a couple for three and a half years. They did receive their marriage license.

"The lady that very us our license was very nice," Cannon said.

The couple said they weren't aware that the local probate office had stopped performing marriage ceremonies, and that they planned to go to the Montgomery County Probate Office to get married.

Booth was not available for comment immediately after the arrest. He did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.

Local and national news outlets have given the story plenty of attention. Several news organizations have called the sheriff's office asking about the incident.

Cannon said later Tuesday afternoon that she was surprised at the reaction

"I didn't think it would blow up like this," she said. "We just wanted to get a marriage license. We weren't thinking of getting married in the probate office until she offered to perform the ceremony."

Authorities handled the situation poorly, she said.

"I don't think she deserves to be arrested," Cannon said. "They say they have stopped all marriages at the probate office. But I guarantee you if a heterosexual couple went in there they would marry them in a heartbeat."

Diprizio walked out of the jail about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday after posting bond and walked across Fifth Street and went back inside the probate office. She came out the front door about three minutes later.

"I asked to speak with Judge Booth but he wouldn't see me," she said. "I wanted to let him know that I will be back. They charged my with disorderly conduct, which I disagree with, I was not disorderly, I was very respectful.

"He didn't trespass me away from the building so I will be back. I will offer to perform marriage ceremonies again."

She says she is an ordained non-denominational minister, but wouldn't comment about her religious credentials.

"We're not going to try to drag it into some religious discussion, and it's not really a political discussion," she said. "As far as I'm concerned it's about love winning, and today love wins."

She says she knows returning to the probate office will likely result in her being arrested again.

"I was trying to marry a nice couple and that wasn't going to happen today because Judge Booth explained that if he let one couple be married he would have to let everybody be married," Diprizio said. "So he was not going to allow us to have ceremony there and he had me arrested.

"I told him I wasn't going to leave on my own volition and I was very respectful. These are intimidation tactics and we have the federal government on our side. It's bad for Judge Booth because he is on the wrong side of history."