Will Louisiana Denial of Interracial Marriage License Reduce Similar Denials to Gay Couples?

Posted by Erica October 22nd, 2009 • Links • Permalink

Gay Couples Law Blog, in the wake of Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell’s denial of a marriage license to an interracial couple, points out that it’s the same logic that makes it okay for this to happen to gay couples all the time, and without the accompanying uproar (or at least the accompanying uproar is not to the same degree as this particular case).

[W]hen it comes to gay marriage, officials deny marriage licenses based on their own personal beliefs without accompanying media attention. Several state and municipal laws let officials who don’t “believe in mixing the genders that way” refuse to give gay couples marriage licenses or to perform their wedding ceremonies.

Upcoming bills to allow gay marriage are particularly likely to include these provisions to help the laws pass. Without them, many state lawmakers won’t vote for the laws because of people like Thomas Messner from the conservative Heritage Foundation, who warns that

those who support the traditional understanding of marriage will be subject to even greater civil liability under nondiscrimination laws that prohibit private discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital status, and gender.

Take, for example, the recently introduced bill [PDF] that would legalize gay marriage in Washington, D.C. It lets officials refuse marriage licenses to gay couples based on their own religious beliefs: “No official. . .shall be required to solemnize any marriage in violation of his or her right to the free exercise of religion.”

Also, Loving v. Virginia.

The Court said that the civil rights of interracial couples trumped the first amendment freedoms of licensing officials. Just as denying interracial marriage licenses for religious reasons was disallowed then, gay rights organizations could argue that denying gay marriage licenses for religious reasons should be similarly disallowed now.