Joseph Bouie Jr.

Joseph J. Bouie Jr. (born December 1946),^[1] is an African-American Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 97 in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. He was unopposed in a special election to the seat in 2014 to replace fellow African-American Democrat Jared Brossett, who was elected on February 1, 2014, to the District D position on the New Orleans City Council.

Bouie graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in New Orleans, which was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Bouie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern University at New Orleans. He received the Master of Social Work from Tulane University in New Orleans and his Ph.D. from Clark Atlanta University. He is a retired faculty member and administrator at his alma mater, Southern University at New Orleans.^[2] Bouie formerly resided in Baton Rouge and in Gretna in Jefferson Parish.^[3]

Coincidentally, Bouie ran against Brossett for the city council seat vacated by their fellow Democrat, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell. In that race, Brossett polled 8,712 votes (50.2 percent) to Bouie's 7,238 votes (41.7 percent). A third Democrat, Dalton R. Savwoir Jr., held the remaining 1414 ballots (8.1 percent).^[4] Bouie faces voters for a full term in the state House in the nonpartisan blanket primary in October 2015.

Opposition to Marriage and Conscience Act

On May 19, 2015, Bouie was among ten legislators on the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee who voted to table the proposed Marriage and Conscience Act, authored by Republican Representative Mike Johnson of Bossier Parish and strongly supported by the conservative Louisiana Family Forum. Only his fellow Republican Ray Garofalo of Chalmette stood with Johnson. Governor Bobby Jindal, who supported the legislation, then issued an executive order to implement the measure. Johnson said that he will in 2016, if he is reelected, re-introduce the measure because he prefers a statutory law to address the issue. Johnson explained that the measure is designed to block the state government from pulling licenses or tax benefits from a company because of the owner's counter view of same-sex marriage. Other Democrats who opposed the measure were committee chairman Neil Abramson of New Orleans, Patrick O. Jefferson of Arcadia, and Alfred C. Williams of Baton Rouge. Republicans who voted to table the measure were Mike "Pete" Huval of Breaux Bridge, Gregory A. Miller of Norco, Clay Schexnayder of Gonzales, and Nancy Landry of Lafayette. ^[5]

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