It’s been a confusing week in the state of Alabama after the first same-sex wedding licenses were issued in the state, with many probate judges saying they’re getting conflicting signals over whether they’re supposed to be issuing licenses.

Although probate judges in 22 of the 67 Alabama counties are reportedly issuing licenses, many judges are apparently denying licenses to gay couples or simply shutting down marriage operations over confusion of what the law allows, according to an Associated Press report.

The AP report pointed to the case of Chilton County Probate Judge Bobby Martin, who had issued a wedding license to a gay couple on Monday after a federal judge had overturned a ban on homosexual unions as unconstitutional, but Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore later warned that the state’s gay marriage ban was still valid and thus probates shouldn’t be issuing licenses.

Moore, a conservative who supports banning gay marriage, even sent a directive to probate judges telling them to refuse to issue licenses in defiance of the order by U.S. District Judge Callie Granade that stipulated gay marriage should be allowed in the state. Moore says that probate judges aren’t defendants in the lawsuit that Granade had ruled on therefore aren’t subject to the order.

However, Martin eventually decided that a federal court order took precedence over a memorandum from Moore, so the probate office went back to issuing gay marriage licenses on Wednesday. Still, he was quoted in the AP as calling it like “being on a wild ride on a roller coaster.”

The conflicting orders prompted Mobile COunty Probate Judge Don Davis to shut down marriage license operations altogether, and Granada will hold a hearing due to a request from several couples to force the probate judge to issue licenses.

Davis had initially reached out to the Alabama Supreme Court for guidance, but they said they had no authority to advise him.