Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Quote:
Unwed Couple Sues Over Living-Together Fines
POSTED: 1:58 pm EDT August 11, 2006
ST. LOUIS -- A couple with three children has sued a suburban town that refused to give them a housing permit because they are not married.
The suit, filed on their behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday, claimed that the town of Black Jack's housing law violates the state and U.S. constitutions, as well as the Federal Fair Housing Act. It seeks unspecified damages.
The ordinance prohibits more than three people from living together unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption."
The ACLU said Foundray Loving, Olivia Shelltrack and their school-age children are facing fines of up to $500 per week for living in their five-bedroom home in the suburb of 6,800 because Loving is not the biological father of Shelltrack's oldest child, and the couple are not married.
"The government has no business saying two consenting adults cannot live with their own children," said Tony Rothert, legal director for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri.
City attorney Sheldon Stock declined comment. Mayor Norman McCourt did not return a phone call seeking comment. McCourt has previously said the ordinance was intended to prevent crowding and has nothing to do with morality.
The city council voted to keep the ordinance earlier this year.
Last month, a North Carolina judge struck down the state's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together, calling the law unconstitutional.
The ACLU said Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia also have laws that prohibit cohabitation. Missouri does not have such a law.
You think they would have gotten nailed if they weren't biracial?
Bravo, Missouri, bravo!
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:54 pm Posts: 12287 Location: Manguetown Gender: Male
Quote:
Last month, a North Carolina judge struck down the state's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together, calling the law unconstitutional.
o rly?
_________________ There's just no mercy in your eyes There ain't no time to set things right And I'm afraid I've lost the fight I'm just a painful reminder Another day you leave behind
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Human Bass wrote:
Quote:
Last month, a North Carolina judge struck down the state's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together, calling the law unconstitutional.
o rly?
I remember that. The sheriff went after one of his own employees.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
A similar law is still on the books here in WV as well, don't feel bad. Or do, I know it kind of embarasses me.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:18 am Posts: 3920 Location: Philadelphia
B wrote:
Quote:
You think they would have gotten nailed if they weren't biracial?
First thing I thought when I saw the pic. I'm not painting everyone in MO, but I'm sure being bi racial isn't high up there on the acceptance list.
_________________ I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died
And the night Jeff Buckley died
And the night Kurt Cobain died
And the night John Lennon died
I remember I stayed up to watch the news with everyone
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
lefty wrote:
Mercury wrote:
A similar law is still on the books here in WV as well, don't feel bad. Or do, I know it kind of embarasses me.
I'm too afraid to even look to see what stupid laws this state still has.
Surely you know of the one where it's legal to beat your wife on the steps of the courthouse in Huntigton on Sunday mornings, right?
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:52 pm Posts: 6822 Location: NY Gender: Male
Athletic Supporter wrote:
Hopefully it's a dumb antiquated law that will be struck down quickly and this will just go away.
The ordinance I'm aware of in Michigan is actually relatively new. They used it in East Lansing to limit the amount of rental housing available to college students. The houses currently in use were grandfathered in, but it kept houses that weren't currently occupied by students from being converted into future rentals for them.
I'm not sure where or how the law is applied elsewhere in the state, but I know it's in full effect there. Caused quite the uproar.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
I don't know if it is still this way in PA, but when I was in college, PA law presumed any house with four or more unmarried women living together to be a brothel. So all of the sorority houses at my school had to be owned by the school, and they all had to have an R.A. (who was always a member of the sorority). The fraternity houses did not have R.A.'s and many of them were privately owned.
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