All three couples have been denied a marriage license after declining to divulge their race, the suit says.
"Plaintiffs deem the requirement of racial labeling to be scientifically baseless, misleading, highly controversial, a matter of opinion, practically useless, offensive to human dignity, an invasion of personal privacy compelling an unwanted public categorization of oneself, and reflective of a racist past," the lawsuit states.
Virginia is one of eight states that ask couples to identify their race before they can marry, according to the lawsuit. The others include Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana and Minnesota. In New Hampshire a court clerk fills out the information about a couple's race. Alabama has couples fill out a certificate "that requires a statement of their race," the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs also argued that there is no uniformity among counties over racial labels. In Arlington, where two of the couples went to obtain a license, they had to choose from: American Indian/Alaskan Native; African American/Black; Asian; Caucasian; Hispanic/Latino; Pacific Islander or Other.
In Rockbridge County, there was a list of "approved races" that included "Aryan," "Octoroon," "Quadroon" and "Mulatto," the suit states.
All three couples have been denied a marriage license after declining to divulge their race, the suit says.
"Plaintiffs deem the requirement of racial labeling to be scientifically baseless, misleading, highly controversial, a matter of opinion, practically useless, offensive to human dignity, an invasion of personal privacy compelling an unwanted public categorization of oneself, and reflective of a racist past," the lawsuit states.
Virginia is one of eight states that ask couples to identify their race before they can marry, according to the lawsuit. The others include Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana and Minnesota. In New Hampshire a court clerk fills out the information about a couple's race. Alabama has couples fill out a certificate "that requires a statement of their race," the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs also argued that there is no uniformity among counties over racial labels. In Arlington, where two of the couples went to obtain a license, they had to choose from: American Indian/Alaskan Native; African American/Black; Asian; Caucasian; Hispanic/Latino; Pacific Islander or Other.
In Rockbridge County, there was a list of "approved races" that included "Aryan," "Octoroon," "Quadroon" and "Mulatto," the suit states.
Jfc...
Ye gods. I don't blame them for suing over that! That's a whole lot of seriously disturbing cow-crap. Hell, that last group of terms are so outdated (& so painfully racist) I actually had to look half of them up to find out what they were supposed to mean. Wtf. *smh*
Well, for sure the folks who say the USA has never yet been out of the woods in terms of prevalence of racial discrimination are right, especially when this kind of thing is still "on the books", so to speak. That's some ugly s***. ---