Tagged: Maurice Bojangles Blanchard

The Rev. Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard spent Tuesday evening in jail.

The charge? He and his partner, Dominique James, asked for a marriage license — and were denied —  at the Jefferson County Clerk's Office in downtown Louisville.

"We were told by the manager of the office that she was unable to provide that for us," Blanchard said in an interview Wednesday with WFPL

 Reverend Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard was arrested Tuesday evening after applying for a marriage license at Louisville's County Clerk's office. The arrest followed a protest and sit-in Blanchard called the Southern Satyagraha, which happened on West Jefferson Street near the Hall of Justice. 

A familiar face showed up on the cover of Monday's Courier-Journal: A profile of Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard looked at his life, his recent ordination, and some criticism from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler. Reverend Mohler says Blanchard's ordination illustrated the rift between traditional Baptist churches and more liberal congregations like Highland Baptist Church, whom Mohler says "defy scripture."

Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard was born in Promised Land, South Carolina, the son of a Southern Baptist Minister, and says, "I grew up in church as much as I was in home." He was given his nickname at the age of three, when his grandfather noticed his ability to replicate any dance move he saw.

When he came out as a gay man, he experienced rejection from the church. "I was angry at God," he says. After struggling to reconcile his faith with his sexual orientation, he says he came to the conclusion that, "I was created like this, so I can't believe in a God who would create me bound to hell, as they're telling me I am."