(Reuters)
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - A Missouri couple who must get married, or move, in order to comply with a housing ordinance in Black Jack, Missouri, sued the town on Thursday, claiming rules prohibiting the unmarried couple and their children from living together are unconstitutional.
The petition, filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, challenges a Black Jack city ordinance that prohibits more than three people from living together in the same house if they are unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption.
Plaintiffs Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving and their children moved from Minnesota to Missouri earlier this year, buying a five-bedroom home in the tiny community outside St. Louis.
Shelltrack and Loving have lived together about 13 years and have two children together, along with a 15-year-old daughter of Shelltrack's from a previous relationship.
Black Jack, a town of about 7,000 that prides itself on a city Web site for its "character and stability," refused to grant the couple and their children an occupancy permit for their home because they do not meet the definition of "family" as set forth by the city, the complaint alleges.
The city has threatened to begin fining the couple as much as $500 a day, said Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, which is helping represent the family in the lawsuit.
So, we've got a man and a woman in a long-term relationship, with children together, and they're not considered a family as far as Black Jack is concerned. Well, what the hell IS a family, then?
Oh, yeah. It's a man and a woman in a long-term relationship, with children together, who are actually MARRIED. To each other. Long-term relationships with kids, bad. Long-term relationships with kids AND a marriage license, good. Makes perfect sense.
Now, I'm married myself, to a wonderful woman, and I've got nothing against marriage as an institution. However, I know it's not for everybody. I have no idea why Ms. Shelltrack and Mr. Loving have never tied the knot, but since they're consenting adults, I'm sure they have their own good reasons AND, (This is important) it's NOBODY ELSE'S DAMN BUSINESS what those reasons are.
The city of Black Jack seems to be operating under the delusion that a marriage license would somehow make Ms. Shelltrack & Mr. Loving's relationship more stable, their kids more pleasant, and is good for the neighborhood. Can't have all those little bastards running around. They lower property values.
Oh, yeah. The sex is better too, I'm sure. "Shacking-up" sex is naughty and bad. "Married" sex is wholesome, fruitful, and good.
Good luck to Ms. Shelltrack and Mr. Loving.
I might have more on this later. Got a thought in my head I need to gnaw on for a while.
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