A Justice of the Peace in Louisiana refuses to marry an interracial couple because, he says, such marriages harm the children. That sounds mighty familiar, eh? (NPR)

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. “I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.”

First, I imagine Bardwell didn’t get the Loving v. Virginia memo. But you can’t help but notice, this is the same logic and rhetoric deployed by the right wing to deny queers the right to form a family — It’s bad for the children.

Elsewhere…

Chicago – The manager of a suburban gay bar tries to throw its trans and cross-dressing patrons to the curb by demanding photo ID that matches their gender presentation. The manager says cross-dressing patrons were advertising their sexual services on Craigslist, but patrons aren’t happy with this broad, discriminatory brush. (Chicago Tribune)

NYC – A friend of the suspects in last week’s brutal gay bashing say the 49-year-old victim “had it coming.” I wonder if we’ll see the “gay panic defense”? (Joe.My.God)

Mississippi – A high school in Jackson, MS refuses to let a lesbian student wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo. The ACLU has taken up Ceara Sturgis’ case, threatening legal action against the district unless it acts by the 23rd. (Towleroad)

California – In the ongoing saga of the anti-Proposition 8 movement, the two major activist groups seem to be giving up on cooperation. Love Honor Cherish and the Courage Campaign have long sought to put the amendment on the 2010 ballot, but Equality California has argued the 2012 ballot will be a safer bet. But Equality California is done trying to reach an agreement with its earstwhile allies, and is launching an enormous $15 million, 3-year voter-education campaign of its own, aimed at preparing the battlefield for a 2012 showdown. (Sacramento Bee)

California – Pressured by a federal judge, a lawyer for the main group who sponsored Prop 8 admits that he cannot back up claims that growing up in a same-sex marriage is harmful to a child. (Washington Blade)

D.C. – A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee asks the military’s top brass to make public their positions on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by mid-November, while Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CN) calls on the White House to show more leadership, NOW. (Washington Blade)

D.C. – A new immigration reform bill making “the family” as “the cornerstone” of US immigration policy might include LGBT families in that definition. The bill would seek to keep families together as they moved to this country. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), co-sponsor of a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, is on the case. (Washington Blade)

D.C. – More Republicans in the House of Representatives are jumping on the anti-Kevin Jennings bandwagon. Claiming Jennings wants to teach homosexuality in schools and promote pedophilia, legislators sent a letter to President Obama repeating trumped-up and disproven allegations that have been swimming in the conservative blogosphere for months. (Washington Examiner and the Bilerico Project)

D.C. – Barney Frank defends his criticism of the National Equality March. (The Gist)