N.C. law banning cohabitation struck down

RALEIGH, N.C. - A state judge has ruled that North Carolina's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together is unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued last year to overturn the rarely enforced law on behalf of a former sheriff's dispatcher who says she had to quit her job because she wouldn't marry her live-in boyfriend.

Deborah Hobbs, 40, says her boss, Sheriff Carson Smith of Pender County, near Wilmington, told her to get married, move out or find another job after he found out she and her boyfriend had been living together for three years. The couple did not want to get married, so Hobbs quit in 2004.

State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued the ruling late Wednesday, saying the law violated Hobbs' constitutional right to liberty. He cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case titled Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a Texas sodomy law.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/ap_on_re_us/cohabitation_lawsuit

Now can you make it so I can fucking buy a six-pack on Sunday morning?

we're glad to have you

I can't believe some people honestly think that who someone is shacking up with is any of their business. Good job on the part of the judge. At least he realizes it's the 21st century.

scarlet 'CS' if the laws on the books were upheld.

I live in Texas and I am sure we have hundreds of ridiculous laws on the books. Most of the time they are not enforced so no one complains It's time for every state to move forward to the 21st century.

:toast:

and DEMAND he resign, LOL

for six years and I didnt know it.

They have the same kind of law. Ironically, I believe it is okay for same-sex couples to live together indefinitely. lmao

The couple did not want to get married...
And why force them to if they don't want to? Why does their happiness need to be legalized?

:woohoo:
rocknation

July 20, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A state judge has ruled that North Carolina's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together is unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued last year to overturn the rarely enforced law on behalf of a former sheriff's dispatcher who says she had to quit her job because she wouldn't marry her live-in boyfriend.

Deborah Hobbs, 41, says her boss, Sheriff Carson Smith of Pender County, near Wilmington, told her to get married, move out or find another job after he found out she and her boyfriend had been living together for three years. The couple did not want to get married, so Hobbs quit in 2004.

State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued the ruling late Wednesday, saying the law violated Hobbs' constitutional right to liberty. He cited a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas sodomy law.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-cohabitation-lawsuit,0,216675.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

Gee, it only took them 201 years to decide that this law was unconstitutional?

which these days is likely nearly everyone.

Unless you're rich.

I can just see the headlines now, bible thumpers are sure to get their undies in a bunch.

the only kind of marriage that they could afford in some of those western North Carolina mountain hollows not all that long ago.

nt

lol

Why does he hate America? :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Their forums confuse me so I avoid it.

If I'd have known they were going to strike down the law I would have run like hell...