BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With a handful of Alabama counties still refusing to grant gay marriages even as they issued licenses for straight weddings, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that all must abide by court decisions allowing same-sex unions.

Opposition withered as some counties complied with the decision, and gay marriage advocates said they would ask courts to penalize the holdouts.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage notwithstanding, opposition continues, including in Kentucky where Malinda Andrews refers to the Bible during a discussion with Erica Seagraves at the Rowan County Judicial Center on Tuesday. The Associated Press

U.S. District Judge Callie Granade of Mobile issued an order saying state probate judges can’t discriminate against gay couples since the Supreme Court has ruled gay marriage is legal everywhere.

Granade’s order doesn’t affect counties that have stopped issuing all marriage licenses in response to the Supreme Court decision, but a gay rights attorney said other counties must treat people equally.

“We will ask Judge Granade to hold them in contempt if they’d don’t,” said Shannon Minter of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights in Washington.

Possible penalties include fines, cost assessments and even jail time.

Minter said his group knew of seven of Alabama’s 67 counties that were issuing licenses to straight couples but not gay couples early in the day, but the number dropped by at least four when Elmore, Franklin, Tallapoosa and Tuscaloosa counties said they would issue licenses to anyone.

The Alabama Supreme Court has muddied the issue by granting time for gay marriage foes to voice their opinion against same-sex weddings.

Granade’s order came at the request of groups representing gay couples across Alabama. The judge, who previously overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, put earlier decisions on hold to allow time for the justices to rule.

Since Alabama law says counties “may” issue marriage licenses, some probate judges have stopped handling marriage licenses altogether rather than let gay couples wed.

At least 13 Alabama counties as of Wednesday had shut down marriage license operations altogether. Some judges said they were trying to sort out what to do next in the wake of the state court order. A few said they, and their constituents, were philosophically opposed to same-sex marriage.

“Marriage to me is one man, one woman,” said Pike County Probate Judge Wes Allen, who said he was adhering to the law by treating couples equally. Allen shut down marriage operations in February, shortly after Granade ruled the Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. Allen said the feedback from constituents has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

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