Think racism is dead? LOL.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_interracial_rebuff

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.
   
NEW ORLEANS – A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," she said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.

"We are looking forward to having children," Humphrey said. "And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we're typical happy newlyweds."

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. "The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice."

"He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.

According to the clerk of court's office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.

Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.

The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk's office.

"I've been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don't think I've mistreated anybody," Bardwell said. "I've made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it.

[Kai]

And he's so polite about it! 

[Dimocritus]

Wow... just wow.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

And he's so polite about it! 

Of course he's polite -- he's a southern gentleman.

I like how he points to the fact that he allows blacks to use his bathroom as an example of how non-racist he is.

[Kai]

And he's so polite about it! 

Of course he's polite -- he's a southern gentleman.

I like how he points to the fact that he allows blacks to use his bathroom as an example of how non-racist he is.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What decade does he live in? I remember when I was a kid being self-conscious because it was all over the TV how hard it is for mixed-race kids. Then I looked around my neighborhood and realized that most of the kids were mixed... and it hasn't bothered me since, what, 1979?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That reminds me, I have an essay about that somewhere. I FIND IT.

[BabylonHoruv]

Damnit! Why is everyone faster than me?

I was gonna post this with the title

"Prop 8 was the start of a slippery slope"

And something clever about how if you let them think they can control marriage for one group they think they can control marriage for everyone.

[Kai]

Damnit! Why is everyone faster than me?

I was gonna post this with the title

"Prop 8 was the start of a slippery slope"

And something clever about how if you let them think they can control marriage for one group they think they can control marriage for everyone.

None of this is anything new. Just sayin.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I can't wait until they bring back real Biblical marriage.  I want some concubines, dammit!

[Shit]

Black magic happens.  I wonder how Verthaine's doing.  Haven't seen him since he got married to the white side.  Still can't believe I called him a nig.   

[Halfbaked1]

I read this earlier, on the news sites and I was completely un-surprised.  It's the South and these people will make up their laws as they go in many cases.  You can't fight them unless you get someone else with some clout to fight for you.  I live near Talladega and have seen outstanding lawyers turn down cases because the Talladega county courts play the gane by their rules.  This case seems to be the same kind of thing, but since it's racially motivated, is willing to get involved.

Did you lot hear about this?

JACKSON, Miss. —  Everyone at Wesson Attendance Center knows 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis is gay because she's never tried to hide it.

But when Sturgis — an honor student, trumpet player and goalie on the school's soccer team — wanted her senior photograph in a tuxedo used in the 2009-10 yearbook, school officials balked. Traditionally, female students dress in drapes and males wear tuxedos.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has gotten involved, issuing a demand letter to Principal Ronald Greer to publish the picture of Sturgis in the tuxedo. The ACLU says it's giving the school until Oct. 23 to respond before pursuing court action, said Kristy L. Bennett, the ACLU's legal director.

A secretary for Greer referred questions to Copiah County Schools Superintendent Rickey Clopton, who declined to comment on Thursday.

Sturgis said she should get to decide how she looks in the senior photo.

"I feel like I'm not important, that the school is dismissing who I am as a gay student and that they don't even care about me. All I want is to be able to be me, and to be included in the yearbook," Sturgis said in a statement.

Veronica Rodriguez, 47, said school officials are trying to force her daughter — who doesn't even own a dress — to appear more feminine.

"The tux is who she is. She wears boys' clothes. She's athletic. She's gay. She's not feminine," said Rodriguez during an interview Thursday at the ACLU office.

Rodriguez said Sturgis took her pictures over the summer instead of with the other students last year, but she used the same studio.

In August, Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school stating that only boys could wear tuxedos. Rodriguez said she met with assistant Superintendent Ronald Holloway who told her he didn't see regulations about the issue in the student handbook.

But when she talked with Greer, she said he told her it was his "conviction" that Sturgis wouldn't appear in the yearbook in a tuxedo.

Bennett said the teenager's constitutional rights are being violated. Bennett said similar cases, including same-sex prom couples and girls wearing tuxedos to proms, have been successfully challenged in court in other states. ACLU officials said they were unaware of any other constitutional disputes involving gay teens at Mississippi schools.

"You can't discriminate against somebody because they're not masculine enough or because they're not feminine enough. She's making an expression of her sexual orientation through this picture and that invokes First Amendment protection," Bennett said.

There's no state policy that deals with the yearbook photo issue, said state Department of Education spokesman Pete Smith.

The deadline for the photo to be accepted for the yearbook was Sept. 30. But advertisements for the publication are still being taken so Sturgis has time for her photo to be included, Bennett said.

Sturgis lives with her grandparents in Wesson, a town of about 1,700 founded during the Civil War in southwest Mississippi. The town's Web site said residents "pride ourselves on our quiet way of life."

[Shit]

Ugh, damn it.  All right Eris, I'll quit being evil if you will.  Except that I still might mutilate the Greek Pantheon a little more.  God of War is still boring.  We need a Discordian video game.  And the Christian school might become like the X-men while I'm at it, whether they want to evolve or not.  Oh, and I think I'll still destroy the world.  Now it all goes black.

[Iason Ouabache]

What decade does he live in? I remember when I was a kid being self-conscious because it was all over the TV how hard it is for mixed-race kids. Then I looked around my neighborhood and realized that most of the kids were mixed... and it hasn't bothered me since, what, 1979?

Yeah, but just try getting a job in politics office. There's no way the American people would ever elect a mixed-race man to a high office. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Black magic happens.  I wonder how Verthaine's doing.  Haven't seen him since he got married to the white side.  Still can't believe I called him a nig.   

wut