An Alabama appeals court ruled on Friday that the state must recognize the out-of-state adoption of three children by the estranged wife of their birth mother, lawyers for the plaintiff said.

The decision comes as a handful of Alabama judges have refused to issue marriage licenses to [homosexual] couples in defiance of a federal ruling, and as another same-sex couple in Mobile has sued seeking similar adoption rights.

Alabama this month became the 37th state where gay marriage is legal after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay a federal ruling that struck down Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage. Despite that, Roy Moore, the conservative chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, has directed judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The US Supreme Court will by the end of June decide whether states can ban gay marriage.

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Alabama-court-recognizes-adoption-by-same-sex-parent-392456