Woman arrested after offer to perform same-sex marriage

Marty Roney | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Minister arrested after trying to marry same-sex couple An ordained minister was arrested in Alabama after trying to marry a same-sex couple.

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

Anne Susan Diprizio, 44, of Prattville was charged with disorderly conduct, said Dave Hill, chief deputy of the Autauga County Sheriff's Office. She later was released from Autauga Metro Jail on $1,000 bond.

Courthouse records show she doesn't have a lawyer.

Deputies were called to the probate office, one block from the courthouse, about 10:30 a.m. CT when 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. Capt. Tom Allen told her she was either going to leave the office or be arrested, so she got up from the chair in which she was sitting and knelt on the floor.

Allen handcuffed her and led her across the street to the jail. Prattville is about a dozen miles northwest of Montgomery, Ala.

Courtney Cannon and Morgan Plunkett 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 Friday. Booth said then that 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."

Booth was not available for comment immediately after the arrest, and he did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Diprizio said after her release that she was a nondenominational minister but wouldn't comment on her credentials. Alabama allows any licensed minister to perform marriages, including those who are certified online.

"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."

Cannon and Plunkett of Autauga County, have been a couple for 3½ years and received their marriage license without problems.

"The lady that gave 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. They planned to go to the Montgomery County Probate Office to get married.

Autauga woman arrested after offering to perform same-sex marriage Woman arrested after offering to perform same sex marriage ceremony. ( Marty Roney, Montgomery Advertiser)

"I didn't think it would blow up like this," Cannon said later. "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 of Diprizio. "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. CT Tuesday after posting bond, walked across the street and went back inside the probate office. She came out the front door about 3 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 me 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," she said. "I will offer to perform marriage ceremonies again."

Diprizio said she knows that returning to the Probate Office likely will result in another arrest.

"Judge Booth explained that if he let one couple be married he would have to let everybody be married," Diprizio said. "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."



Marty Roney also reports for The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.