According to an Associated Press story, Louisiana justice of the Peace, Keith Bardwell, denied a marriage license to a STRAIGHT couple. The couple just happened to be interracial.

According to the Tangipahoa Parish Justice of the Peace,

“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.”

It seems the he thinks interracial marriages are ephemeral at best and their offspring aren’t accepted by Black or White society. I guess based on that Britney Spears won’t be getting hitched any time soon in this Parish of her home state. Her marriages have a half life less than the life span of your typical Mayfly.

And these are some of the same arguments used against allowing gays to get married. The marriage won’t last and the kids will suffer. Since when has the longevity of a marriage, or the fairness of the world to children that may be cared for by that couple ever been considered grounds for allowing two people to get married?

It seems folks will use any argument, logical or not, to prevent the marriage of those which they do not approve.

At 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, Bob Sullivan and Bill Slimback became the first same-sex couple to exchange their vows as gay marriage became legal in Vermont.

Dressed in suits, saying their vows under a large wall-mounted moose head, the two Whitehall, N.Y., men promised their love, exchanged rings and held hands during a modest 17-minute ceremony. Moose Meadow Lodge co-owner Greg Trulson, who’s also a Justice of the Peace, presided.

“It feels wonderful,” said Slimback, 38, an out-of-work Teamster who is taking Sullivan’s last name as his own. “It’s a day I’ve been long waiting for, and a day I truly honestly thought would never come.”

Slimback said he and Sullivan, 41, have long wanted to cement their relationship with a wedding, but since they couldn’t legally marry in New York they chose to wed even before Vermont’s gay marriage era officially dawned.

Vermont is one of five states that now allow same-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. New Hampshire’s law takes effect Jan. 1, 2010.

Vermont, which invented civil unions in 2000 after a same-sex couple challenged the inequality of state marriage statutes, was a mecca for gay couples who to that point had no way to officially recognize their relationships.

Since then, other states have allowed gay marriage, as did Vermont, which in April became the first state to legalize gay marriage through a legislative decree and not a court case.

Coverage from the local Fox affiliate below: