Thread: Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License

Louisiana JP Keith Bardwell Refuses To Marry Interracial Couple

Louisiana Justice Of The Peace Keith Bardwell Refuses To Marry Interracial Couple

Meet Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana justice of the peace who in an amazing act of time travel is making headlines because he refused to marry an interracial couple.

Bardwell, channeling 1949 claims that children from interracial couples are discriminated against, and that in his experience interracial marriages don’t last long anyway.

“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” Keith Bardwell told AP. “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.”

Apparently though, somebody should think of the children! “There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage. I think those children suffer and I won’t help put them through it.”

“But I’m not a racist…I try to treat everyone equally” he helpfully added.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and Terence McKay, 32, are considering filing a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Justice Department.

Interracial couple denied marriage license - Race & ethnicity- msnbc.com

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzman. "The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

Keith Bardwell Quits: Justice Of The Peace Who Refused To Give Interracial Couple Marriage License Resigns

Justice Of The Peace Who Refused To Give Interracial Couple Marriage License Resigns

MELINDA DESLATTE

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana justice of the peace who refuses to marry interracial couples resigned Tuesday, after weeks of calls for his ouster from civil rights groups and several public officials, including the governor.

Keith Bardwell quit with a one-sentence statement to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne: "I do hereby resign the office of Justice of the Peace for the Eighth Ward of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, effective November 3, 2009."

Gov. Bobby Jindal called Bardwell's resignation "long overdue."

Beth Humphrey, who is white, has said she and her now-husband, Terence McKay, who is black, received their marriage license from the parish clerk of court, where they also got a list of people qualified to perform the ceremony. When she called Bardwell's office on Oct. 6 to ask, Humphrey said Bardwell's wife told her that the justice wouldn't sign their marriage license because they were a "mixed couple."

When questioned, Bardwell, who is white, acknowledged he routinely avoids marrying interracial couples because he believes children born to them end up suffering. In interviews, he said he refers the couples to other justices of the peace, who then perform the ceremony, which happened in this case.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said in an October interview with The Associated Press. "I think those children suffer, and I won't help put them through it."

Bardwell didn't return repeated calls Tuesday to comment about his resignation, which followed calls for his removal from officials including Jindal and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.

"We're saddened that it took national attention to this issue, which was decided back in 1967 by the Supreme Court, and also that it took public admonishment from other elected leaders in order for him to resign," said Laura Catlett, a lawyer for Humphrey and McKay.

Jindal said Bardwell made the right decision.

"What he did was clearly wrong and this resignation was long overdue," the governor said in a statement.

Landrieu said Bardwell's refusal to marry the couple reflected terribly on the state.

"By resigning ... and ending his embarrassing tenure in office, Justice Bardwell has finally consented to the will of the vast majority of Louisiana citizens and nearly every governmental official in Louisiana ... We are better off without him in public service," she said.

Humphrey and McKay have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Bardwell. Catlett said the resignation won't stop the lawsuit, which also names Bardwell's wife as a defendant.

"This does not in any way change the fact that he, with his wife's help, discriminated against an interracial couple while he was a public official," Catlett said.

Bardwell was elected in 1975 as justice of the peace in Ponchatoula, La., a town 55 miles north of New Orleans. His term was set to run through 2014, and he had said that even before the flap, he hadn't intended to run for re-election.