I just read the story and the JP actually says " I try to treat everyone equally". I guess he means he tries to treat anyone who isn't in a mixed race relationship equally.

JP's aren't state employees. They are appointed or elected and can legally marry people, but not much else.

he didnt say they CANT, he just said he WONT

What he is doing is using his judgement to influence what he feels will be best in the future for potential children. I agree with all of you, its crazy. But, I agree with CB, that its his option. he chooses not to marry interracial couples. he should be punished as appropriate by the law. But does this qualify for a discrimination suit? God help us. oops. I mean heaven help us. I mean, what do I mean?

Seriously, like thinking the judgement of a latina woman is better than a white male, crazy!

The JOP shouldn't have marries his sister:biglaugh:

Reminds me of a line from a Fools song: She's my grandma, she's my mother, she's my wife. :rotf2:

Just another state official superimposing their beliefs over the laws of the people.

I think you are all whacked today. How did he superimpose his beliefs?
He said no, I'm not doing it. period
The key is I"M not doing it as in HE is not doing it.
HIS CHOICE.
I disagree with his choice and let him pay the price, but what most of you are doing is superimposing your beliefs on HIM! Abortion is legal, do all doctors HAVE to perform an abortion?

Let's stick with the issue of the marriage.

As a public official, he has the right to say no to a couple, but not for HIS reasons, like his concerns over their having an interracial child.
If he were denying them his services because they were brother and sister, 1st cousins, or a man and a sheep then it would be ligit because of legal circumstances.
Once he denied them based on his SPECULATIONS on what a child of thiers may/may not have to deal with, he crossed the line.

Now if he specifically interjected race into his explaination to the couple, they might be able to claim racial discrimination. Otherwise, they can claim their civil rights have been denied: the right as a couple to get married.
Unless a law has been passed that outlaws/forbids interracial marriages, he cannot deny them the marriage certificate.

If he only denied them the CEREMONY, then all they have is a complaint to the powers that be in that neck of the woods.

I'm done. Have a nice warm dry weekend!

SORRY I MADE THE 1ST POST ><><><:smash:



BUT ::


25 years ago my sister met a guy while she was living & working in BOSTON ............ he was from Virginia .
They decided to get married & have the service in Boston .
They got married ina Catholic church / he isn,t catholic // I couldn,t care less .
If she was happy /I was happy for her .
NOW GET THIS ::

WITHOUT HERE KNOWLEDGE

when they played the music to leave the church / walking down the isle stuff >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> He paid them to play >>>>>>>>>>>> Dixie & had the Conferarite {SP} Flag flying from the church ;;

to this day I don,t know how he got out of Boston alive ;;

&&&&&&&&&& If I knew later /now .what was going on in that marriage while they went back to Virginia .he wouldn,t look for a job >UP NORTH }}
ON SHELIA,s soul / he,d be F $%^&*( dead or as close as you can get ;;
That,s also the reason I didn,t find out about things until years later ;;

After going to Virginia /in the time they were married / with my wife & young kids .I can say they really / truly believe the south will rise again ;;
They even had prices for locals & then a price for northerners // on things / like repair service, home heating oil/ stuff that doesn,t have price tags on it ;;

Payback is a bitch & I ain,t dead yeT :fury:

Many good points here, however Dadfisherman, a marriage license can be obtained at any of Virginia's 62 county clerks offices. Which on the Virginia website states should be applied for 30 days prior to the wedding day.

The justice of the peace is elected by each county, and governed by the county. If the county clerk gave them a license and the Justice says he wont do it, then there is little difference between him and the preacher refusing to marry someone not of his church.

If he was the county clerk refusing, then it would be a much different story.

It is not News Worthy and the only reason it's there is to stir up race problems. And like RIJimmy, I am married to a woman of a different race than me. My 3 kids are bi-racial and have had a few issues that they have dealt with in the past. Many of you (JohnnyD and the like) seem ot have their head so far up their "High Horse's" Ass to see reality. Every time someone throws down the race card, IT IS NOT NEWS!!!

It's absolutely newsworthy if only for the absurdity of it all. Doesn't mean I'd expect to see it on the front page of the WSJ, but a lot of people would be interested in hearing about it.

Quite possibly the guy broke the law as well.

-spence

It takes all kinds. I can't imagine anyone shocked by this. It's not right but I believe that reverse racism is almost as bad and maybe even hinders peoples ability to be more tolerant. Why can't we have a colorblind society?

I'm not following your analogy here.

To me if a judge did this it would have to be appealed and he would have to be removed from office.

A JOP , so you find another to marry you.

totally agree ......road trip to vegas

In this case, it's not a generic race issue (as in any ol' race), it's a black guy marrying a white woman issue.

Just because your true, ignorant colors have shown, doesn't mean I have my head up my ass. You probably have the most absurd, close-minded opinion regarding just about any topic. Unless you're married to a black woman, you really have no business trying to relate yourself to the situation.

What exactly is the reality, since I'm so far up in the stink to see it? Because I think the reality is that even in 2009, racism is still quite prevalent everywhere, but almost socially acceptable in the South.

Your right JD it is and it goes both ways. We now are seeing race baiting bought to a whole new level.

Your blanket statement about the south is just plain wrong. I have plenty of family that were born here and moved south (who could blame them) and I have seen the reality first hand.Sure there are sections that are racist, as there are sections of America where a white person would be hated, perhaps even unsafe.

The elitist, I'm right,your wrong, attitude that many from up here have is just as offensive IMO

Again, no problem refusing to perform the ceremony, but in the aspect of obtaining the license, he is acting in the same regard as a county clerk. he should just have issued it.

and the fact that he is an Elected Official makes it even worse.

I remember people getting all worked up because an Elected Official sided with a Black man over a White Cop....and that it was totally outrageous. But now we have an elected official siding with "Racial Purity" over "Mixed Race" and its A-OK :kewl:......Can't have it both ways

So racism against Blacks is all that matters?

Also, he did not specify black or any race in his statement. He said he will not perform interracial marriages. So I doubt he would have married me and my wife either. That being said, I still think it's his right to not marry those he chooses. He didn't tell they they couldn't get married, he even suggested the other JOS that would be happy to do it. He was not the one granting the license, just providing the service.
I see it in much the same view as the doctor that refuses to conduct abortions. If he has moral objections, then it is not my right to try to force him to do something he feels is morally wrong when I have many other people (other JOS and every preacher in town) to conduct the ceremony.

Thanks--I had you in the pool for who'd be the first guy on SB to defend this maroon. :kewl:


I had RI Jimmy to place, and he didn't disappoint either :humpty:

Absolutely. That sean character is a perfect example of it going the other way - if someone was critical of Obama smoking, he'd someone turn it into a race issue.

I have some friends that live down South, and have had to travel South many times. My friend from NC has commented before on how a lot of the older people are still very racist. Stories like this from Louisiana just reaffirm that racism is very prevalent still.

A blanket statement that racism is acceptable across the board down there probably is unfair, but I do strongly believe that it is quite prevalent.

With regards to your comment about there being places where a white person would be hated, perhaps even unsafe... as I type this, I'm currently in Springfield visiting my girlfriend who's taking Graduate classes. She unfortunately lives in a neighborhood and I'm consistently given dirty looks and always feel like I have to look over my shoulder whenever we go anywhere.

In fact, last night an 18y/o girl was shot in the head in a house almost directly across the street from my girlfriend. Talk about safe.
Springfield woman shot in her Wilmont Street Home; neighbor Daniel Horn arrested | Breaking News - MassLive.com - - MassLive.com

He wouldn't grant them the License.......Which, as an elected official, he should do.

From the news article....

"Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black."

"THOSE PEOPLE"......:hs:.

You just stereotyped an entire geopraphical region..."those people".You're no better than that moronic JP.You should be ashamed for yourself for making such a lame blanket statement.A lot of "those people" are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.One could actually argue that you're a bigot for lumping an entire region into a stereotype.

PS.Your Civil War re-enactment statement is equally as lame.Fact:as in any state including those that were Union or Confederate,the "battles" reflect the results of the real battles.The majority of Civil War battles were won by the Confederacy.No state sanctioned re-enactment that has ever occurred in any former Confederate state has ended with the result of Grant surrendering to Lee.

Get your $h!t straight Johnny.

JohnnyD gets taken to the woodshed...

I spend about 1/2 of my work time down south. Sure there's still a lot of backwards people but also a lot of the South is every bit as up to speed and sophisticated as us elites in New England :hihi:

-spence

If you read the entire post, as opposed to your panties getting bunched over two words, you'd have seen that I replied to buckman saying that lumping them all together was probably unfair.

Saying "Those people" is no worse than saying "people in the South", the rich, poor, white people or referring to any other group of people.

One certainly could argue that I'm a bigot - with all that close-mindedness I'm consistently demonstrating.:smash: You seem quite sensitive on the subject.

And as I mentioned before, I have friends that live in NC that state racism is still widespread. My girlfriend visited old friends in Jacksonville and it was widespread there, and I've witnessed it first hand in my travels.

This story alone demonstrates that racism still exists down there and I'm sure for every one that we hear about, there are a ton more that no one hears about.

It's quite straight.

Exactly the response I expected.

Wow,amazing you have friends NC.Holy crap your gf visited old friends in Jax.Wow.Y'all must be true blue because ya'll have friends down south!

Doesn't change a thing,you still lumped an entire region into a stereotype.

Give it up chief,you insulted way to many people to continue to squawk your bs.

You're completely out of your mind. As I mentioned before, I did note that it was unfair to label the entire region. But, experience has show that the feelings are still prevalent. I travel quite regularly for work, have over a hundred clients nationwide and internationally. I have a pretty diverse pool of people to poll from.

What exactly is your proof to the contrary?

Like I said before, you seem awfully sensitive about the issue.

What Paul said....

Content of their character, not the color of their skin.

I thought the greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action have been women, white women at that.

for a lawyer, your pretty dumb, i did not defend him. I defend his right to choose. Like it or not, you live in a country where the klan, nazis and anyone else can march down the street, I dont defend them, but I defend their right to march. We are not a country that enforces its beliefs, right or wrong on others. I said - fire him take what ever action deemed necessary. Public offical aside - ALL of you judging him are no less guilty than he is - imposing your beliefs/values on others. think about it.

referring to a comment by Sonia Sotamayor - supreme court justice

While some of my judgments may be controversial, none of my judgments have ever restricted the civil rights of other people.

You are 100% lit my friend.

There's no denying you stereotyped an entire geographical region.How can you deny this?You referred to the entire south as "those people".I pointed this out.Simple.You changed your tune in a post afterwards in a reply to buckman as this:"A blanket statement that racism is acceptable across the board down there probably is unfair, but I do strongly believe that it is quite prevalent."Your original post referring to "those people" still stands.

This changes nothing,you made an ignorant comment about an entire geographical region of the USA.And yes I'm sensitive to your lame-ass comments as many of "those people" have died in war so that you can make such lame-ass comments.