But when we walked into that government office together, we were told that the magistrate on duty wouldn’t give us a marriage license. I was flabbergasted. We had planned everything, we had all our paperwork and we were legally eligible to get married.

So why wouldn’t he marry us? The reason, it turned out, was because Thomas is African-American, and I am white. The magistrate told us that marrying an interracial couple went against his religious beliefs. Our happy day quickly turned into a
nightmare.

This year, when I learned that legislators in Raleigh were pushing a law that would allow magistrates to refuse to marry couples on religious grounds, I felt the pain of that day all over again. Senate Bill 2 would give magistrates the ability to discriminate against couples exactly the same way they discriminated against Thomas and me almost 40 years ago. Gov. Pat McCrory vetoed the bill after it was passed by the legislature, but the Senate has already overridden his veto, and the House could do the same.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-e...rylink=cpy

I'm guessing it is state by state on the timelines to get a license, I know in Georgia we had to go ahead of time to get ours done.

I'm sorry, but religious beliefs should not come in to play when you are a public servant. Carry out the law and nothing more.

(06-04-2015 09:53 AM)TheEagleWay Wrote:  I'm guessing it is state by state on the timelines to get a license, I know in Georgia we had to go ahead of time to get ours done.

I'm sorry, but religious beliefs should not come in to play when you are a public servant. Carry out the law and nothing more.

That was our governor's belief, so he (a republican) vetoed the bill. If you don't want to perform your duties, get a private sector job.

The senate overrode him. The house has to as well for it to pass. It'll probably pass, but it should be closer than the senate race.

NC politics are all sorts of ****** anyway. In the last election, 60% of votes for congress went to democrats, yet only 3 of the 13 representatives elected were democrats. Our districts are gerrymandered to hell.

Fvcked Up ! Race does Not fall under religious beliefs. I Feel bad for the Couple.

(06-04-2015 10:04 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  Fvcked Up ! Race does Not fall under religious beliefs. I Feel bad for the Couple.

Maybe not your religious beliefs but other people's religions maybe.

Which is why the current bill in N.C. should not pass.

Moral of the story.... don't wait until your wedding day to pick up your marriage license.

(06-04-2015 10:24 AM)200yrs2late Wrote:  Moral of the story.... don't wait until your wedding day to pick up your marriage license.

Wow. Just wow.

They said they went to the magistrate to get a marriage license. Then they said the magistrate wouldnt marry them because they were mixed race. Did they get a marriage license, or not? Getting a license is different from getting married.

(06-04-2015 10:11 AM)Fitbud Wrote:  

(06-04-2015 10:04 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  Fvcked Up ! Race does Not fall under religious beliefs. I Feel bad for the Couple.

Maybe not your religious beliefs but other people's religions maybe.

Which is why the current bill in N.C. should not pass.

Adults should not have to get permission to share each others assets...from any one. A legal contract between the two parties is all one should need. Therefore...I oppose any and all laws such as this.

(06-04-2015 11:14 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  They said they went to the magistrate to get a marriage license. Then they said the magistrate wouldnt marry them because they were mixed race. Did they get a marriage license, or not? Getting a license is different from getting married.

I thought you needed a marriage licence to get married.

They fought it and were able to get it three years later.

1976 people 1976

(06-04-2015 10:04 AM)CardFan1 Wrote:  Fvcked Up ! Race does Not fall under religious beliefs. I Feel bad for the Couple.

Same here. Someone should kick that magistrate in the nuts.

Government permission to get "married" is inherently absurd. It's nothing more than a piece of paper that gets you a tax break.

Gay, straight, black, white, whatever....everyone needs the government's permission to get "married." Not only that, you have to pay them to do it.

Let that sink in for a second.

(06-04-2015 11:12 AM)Fitbud Wrote:  

(06-04-2015 10:24 AM)200yrs2late Wrote:  Moral of the story.... don't wait until your wedding day to pick up your marriage license.

Wow. Just wow.

As much planning as goes into a wedding do you think it's prudent to wait till the wedding day to pick up the license? It's just common sense. I'm not condoning the actions of the magistrate, but any number of issues could have come up that prevented the couple from getting their license.

I wish they would get their story straight. Were they denied a license? Or were they denied marriage? Which is it?

(06-04-2015 11:17 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  Government permission to get "married" is inherently absurd. It's nothing more than a piece of paper that gets you a tax break.

Gay, straight, black, white, whatever....everyone needs the government's permission to get "married." Not only that, you have to pay them to do it.

Let that sink in for a second.

Slaves on a comfortable plantation. The reason the government does this is to be able to track accurately your labor and then borrow against it. Every dime the government borrows uses your future labor as collateral for repayment.

(06-04-2015 11:16 AM)Fitbud Wrote:  

(06-04-2015 11:14 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  They said they went to the magistrate to get a marriage license. Then they said the magistrate wouldnt marry them because they were mixed race. Did they get a marriage license, or not? Getting a license is different from getting married.

I thought you needed a marriage licence to get married.

They fought it and were able to get it three years later.

1976 people 1976

Back then there were laws on the books, in many states or locales, against interracial marriage, why are you surprised about this?

(06-04-2015 11:24 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  I wish they would get their story straight. Were they denied a license? Or were they denied marriage? Which is it?

I think denied marriage by a magistrate.

This is messed up.

(06-04-2015 11:29 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(06-04-2015 11:24 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  I wish they would get their story straight. Were they denied a license? Or were they denied marriage? Which is it?

I think denied marriage by a magistrate.

Thats what it looks like. I've found other articles that stated they had received a marriage license from another county, but that these two magistrates in this county wouldnt marry them.

(06-04-2015 09:58 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(06-04-2015 09:53 AM)TheEagleWay Wrote:  I'm guessing it is state by state on the timelines to get a license, I know in Georgia we had to go ahead of time to get ours done.

I'm sorry, but religious beliefs should not come in to play when you are a public servant. Carry out the law and nothing more.

That was our governor's belief, so he (a republican) vetoed the bill. If you don't want to perform your duties, get a private sector job.

The senate overrode him. The house has to as well for it to pass. It'll probably pass, but it should be closer than the senate race.

NC politics are all sorts of ****** anyway. In the last election, 60% of votes for congress went to democrats, yet only 3 of the 13 representatives elected were democrats. Our districts are gerrymandered to hell.

Exactly. The GOP cannot win elections based upon one person one vote, so they have to play games.

There are fixes...

1) The Oregon plan. In Oregon, starting next year, the state will automatically register all of its' citizens to vote (unless they opt out).

2) A constitutional amendment to stop gerrymandering. This would be hard to engender, but this would stop it. Keep our system of districts and 'first past the post' by institute runoffs for all major offices AND allow for extra seats to be provided to a party if that party wins more votes than the majority party but does not receive the majority of seats.