Tag: Mississippi

Well, gee, no one saw this coming, did they?

Now bigots in Mississippi feel empowered to turn away ‘mixed-race’ weddings.

LaKambria Welch was doing research for her brother, who is black, and his fiancée, who is white, looking for locations to host their upcoming wedding.

But after reaching out to Boone’s Camp Event Hall in Booneville, Miss., the couple was turned away based on the owner’s personal religious beliefs.

After being turned away, Welch visited the property to get clarity on the refusal. She filmed her conversation with the employee she spoke with.

The video, no surprise, quickly went viral.

“We don’t do gay weddings or mixed race, because of our Christian race,” said the employee.

Probably realizing she had shown her self by saying ‘Christian race’ – there’s no such thing – she quickly amended her statement saying, “I mean our Christian belief.”

Uh-huh.

Folks, when people reveal themselves to you, believe them the first time.

When Ms. Welch explained that she, too, is Christian but asked where in the Bible it’s taught that mixed-race marriages were forbidden, the employee replied, “I don’t want to argue my faith, we just don’t participate.”

Shaken by the episode, Welch told the media, “It really broke my heart to actually hear her say those things.”

According to reports, after the video launched hundreds of outraged social media posts, the owner of the event hall, Donna Russell, clearly sensing a lawsuit of epic size (federal law prohibits race-based discrimination in public accommodation), privately apologized to Welch and her family.

The owners said in a statement that they had previously been taught (by who?) to believe that “interracial marriage was against the teachings of the Bible.” The owners say they consulted with their pastor and realized they were ‘wrong.’

More from the Washington Post:

In her apology, the event hall’s owner attempted to explain why she believed the Bible supported her views on interracial marriages, describing how she only recently discovered that wasn’t the case. She began by writing that as “a child growing up in Mississippi” it was an unspoken understanding that people stayed “with your own race.”

But then on Saturday, when her husband asked her to point to relevant sections of the Bible, she couldn’t. After spending hours scouring the text and sitting down with her pastor, the owner wrote that she finally concluded that the reasoning behind her decision to turn away Welch’s brother and his fiancee was “incorrect.”

“Boone’s Camp is sorry for the pain and inconvenience they have caused this couple and have invited them to use the facility,” the statement said.

The United States Supreme Court overturned bans against interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia in 1967. 

In 2016, Mississippi passed a law that affords special protections to opponents of same-sex marriage, which the Supreme Court had ruled was a constitutional right the previous year.

The law protects individuals and organizations who claim they act in accordance with their “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” from potential government actions. The law allows them sway in turning away possible customers in regards to hiring, real estate, wedding services, and foster care. 

The 2016 law clearly does not mention race.

The venue owners did not mention any change of position on same-sex marriages.

Folks, first it’s the gays, now ‘mixed race’ marriages. Don’t think you’re not next. All they have to do is find you to be ‘different.’

#StandUp

(source: New York Times)