Louisiana Judge Rules Interracial Marriage, Like Gay Marriage, Will Obliterate Juvenile Happiness

83955522MARRIAGE LICENSE: It’s hard to believe this headline exists in 2009, but a straight interracial couple was denied a marriage license in Louisiana. The reason? The justice of the peace was concerned for their future children. After doing some research on the subject, “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. “I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. “In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer.”

Last time I checked, no child brings their circumstances at birth on themselves. Maybe we should try fixing how society treats interracial children instead of discriminating against interracial couples and making the problem worse. We could also look at the millions of children raised by alcoholics, psychopaths, drug addicts and abusive asshats who all were permitted to legally marry and birth children under the law. AND! Marriage is not a predicate for childrearing; not all married people have children, and not all children are birthed by married couples.

You know, the President of the United States turned out okay despite his interracial parentage. Just saying. Though this judge, I’m guessing, voted for Sarah Palin.

NEM: Firstly, check out all our hot National Equality March coverage! We’ve got our photo gallery, Katrina’s notes from the field, and our final shebang: VIDEO by Riese, Recap/Review by Katrina. Special guests include Kristin Chenoweth, Dan Choi and Cynthia Nixon. And Haviland

DADT: Obama’s advisors say they talking to the generals and trying to push forward on repealing DADT, but they aren’t promising quick results.

CHILDREN FTW: One family, among many, that stands to gain if Referendum 71 is approved: “Our son hadn’t planned to testify that chilly day back in February, but he was moved to speak after hearing what, to his young ears, must have seemed to be a confusing and sometimes hurtful denial of rights to our family. So he took the microphone and had this to say: “Some of you may not think of my family as a family, but I know in my heart that we are. So please pass this bill so everyone will know that this is my family.”

TUXEDO: The ACLU has picked up a case in Mississippi involving a high school that won’t allow a lesbian student to wear a tuxedo in the yearbook. 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. WTF is a drape, and where was this school when I wore a chapstick necklace to my 9th grade school picture taking, someone should’ve gotten rid of that shit. But really, in this day & age? Surely this school should know the gay leftist media won’t let them get away with this nonsense. (@associatedpress)
Here, we’ll run it! HAPPY HIGH SCHOOL!!!! You should watch Pump up the Volume and take over the world!

Ceara

DUMBLEDORE’S LEGACY: Harry Potter fans are fighting for marriage equality in Maine and asking themselves, “What would Dumbledore do?” (@wallstreetjournal)

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Sarah

Sarah lives in Chicago with her partner and her big white Great Dane. She is a lawyer by day and a beer brewer/bread baker/knitter by night. She & her partner are currently learning how to grow their own food, and eventually they hope to move to a small farm outside the city. In 2009-2010, before jetting off to law school, Sarah was Autostraddle's Managing Editor.

Sarah has written 127 articles for us.

14 Comments

  1. 1. “We could also look at the millions of children raised by alcoholics, psychopaths, drug addicts and abusive asshats who all were permitted to legally marry and birth children under the law.” WORD.

    2. I used to have hair like the tuxedo lesbian. She’s cute. For my graduation picture we all wore gowns the school gave us and they were basically headshots so no one even saw below our necks.

    3. TODAY’S AUTOSTRADDLER OF THE DAY IS AWESOME.

  2. The good news is that the situation with the justice of the peace, will also highlight the injustices faced by same-sex couples who want to marry. It’s time America.

    All summer long I officiated for couples who came to CT to wed from all across the country. Congrats to all.

    It’s time for marriage equality.

    Cheers, Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace,
    Washington, Connecticut, USA.

  3. I want to have a march of “Juveniles Who Are Unhappy Because of This F*cking Judge In Louisiana.” As someone who is queer and also in an interracial relationship, sometimes I am like “I wish my culture would get used to gays in the same way they have gotten used to interracial relationships,” and then sometimes I am like “Oh wait, nevermind.”

  4. Pingback: All In One Information » Louisiana Judge Rules Interracial Marriage, Like Gay Marriage …

  5. Supposedly he’s not racist either: “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.”
    —–
    Cause you know how that bathroom business goes.

  6. Latest comments from the (in)Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell (source:USA Today)
    “Everybody hates me,” he tells reporters. “Really. I don’t know why. I treat people, I figure, equal. I have one problem with mixed marriages and that is the offspring.”

    Another fine example of logic from a Republican constitutionalist. One would think he could answer the mystery of why everyone hates him by meditating on his last comment regarding interracial “offspring”. I suppose an interesting question that should be asked is how a person this stupid ever got this position in the first place? Bobby Jindal’s effort to have this person dealt with is as slow and feckless as Bush Jr.’s leadership during the Katrina disaster. Did I forget to mention Bardwell refuses to resign?

  7. I searched on Fox News to get a perspective on what conservatives are saying about this interracial marriage flap.
    Nothing!!
    One article on the subject taken from the associated press…with no viewer comments allowed
    Compare that to the pages and pages of articles and thousands of comments on a Fox News search of “Obama, Nobel Prize”
    Seems like the conservatives are keeping a low profile on this one…and keeping their readers from making comments on it that might reveal their “racial opinions” on this.
    I guess Fox is hoping this blows away quickly before some of their readers start throwing their support to the justice of the Peace.

  8. So I have never been more proud to be a southerner.(psyche!) Guess where I have been all weekend. About 10 miles away from Hammond, LA (for a wedding!). Guess where I am now. I’m home/less than an hour away from Wesson, MS. This ruined my day. Still have lots of Autostraddle to catch up on though, so maybe something will cheer me up. By the way, I promise we aren’t all racists and homophobes.

  9. You know what obliterated my happiness when I was a juvenile? Curfew, piano lessons, microwave dinners, and the not-so-revealing uniforms that the cheerleaders wore. If we have to point a collective proverbial finger at something to blame for the destruction of youthful joy, I think we can all agree that knee-length cheerleading skirts are destroying society.

Comments are closed.