Alabama minister tried to marry a lesbian couple -- now she's on probation

A minister arrested on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for trying to perform a gay wedding in an Alabama courthouse pleaded guilty on Monday but will avoid serving time in jail, Montgomery Advertiser reports.

Anne Susan DiPrizio, 44, entered the plea in Autauga County Circuit Court.

A judge ordered her to pay a $250 fine and gave her a 30-day jail sentence, which was suspended later in place of a six months unsupervised probation.

"I'm glad this is over and we can put this behind us," DiPrizio said after the hearing.

The Unitarian minister offered to marry a lesbian couple inside the Autauga County Probate Office in February after a federal judge struck down Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Many counties in Alabama were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at the time and the lesbian couple had received their license a few minutes before.

The day before the arrest, the judge had halted all marriage ceremonies in the Probate Office. DiPrizio refused to leave the office after sheriff's deputies were called, according to court records. She was later arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

After spending about three hours in the Autauga Metro Jail that day, DiPrizio was released on a $1,000 bond.

Counties have since halted issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether same-sex weddings are constitutional. While the licenses were available in Alabama, hundreds of same-sex couples wed statewide.