After a long legal battle, same-sex couples will finally be able to get married in more than half of Alabama's counties thanks to a federal judge who on Friday affirmed her ruling striking down the state's same-sex marriage ban.

Despite its reluctance to comply with a previous ruling, Mobile County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the judge's order. This, in turn, signaled other probate judges throughout the state to do the same, and at least 43 of the state's 67 counties began issuing licenses to gay and lesbian couples by mid-day Friday.

"These numbers represent a seismic shift in favor of equality and justice. Resistance to happy, loving and committed same-sex couples getting married is quickly crumbling throughout the state," Human Rights Campaign spokesman Fred Sainz said, according to the Washington Post.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a motion filed by Alabama state to keep U.S. District Judge Callie Granade's decision on hold until June, when the high court is expected to issue a decision on whether gay couples can marry or states have the right to ban their unions.

On Jan. 23, Granade overturned Alabama's voter-approved ban on gay marriage. Nevertheless, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, an opponent to gay rights, has remained defiant, demanding that the state's probate judges continue to deny licenses to same-sex couples until the Supreme Court delivers a ruling on the issue.

According to Moore, a Republican, the probate judges were exempt from issuing same-sex nuptial licenses because they were not defendants in the original case.

"It's my duty to speak up when I see the jurisdiction of our courts being intruded by unlawful federal authority," Moore said on Monday.

He also argued the federal courts had intruded in the state's sovereignty.

"Once they start tampering with the definition of marriage, which was given of God, there is no end to it," he said, reports The Associated Press.

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