Louisiana justice who refused interracial marriage resigns

(CNN) -- A Louisiana justice of the peace who drew criticism for refusing to marry an interracial couple has resigned, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday.

Keith Bardwell resigned in person at the Louisiana secretary of state's office, said spokesman Jacques Berry. The state Supreme Court will appoint an interim justice of the peace to fill Bardwell's position, Berry said, and a special election will be held next year to fill the position permanently.

Bardwell, a justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward, refused to perform a marriage ceremony for Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, Louisiana, and sign their marriage license. The two were married by another justice of the peace.

The couple filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Bardwell and his wife, Beth Bardwell, on October 20, claiming the two violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Initial reports were that Bardwell refused to issue a marriage license to the couple, but in the lawsuit Humphrey and McKay say they obtained the license from the parish court clerk's office and contacted Bardwell to see if he would perform the ceremony and sign the license to legally validate the marriage.

Humphrey wound up speaking by telephone with Beth Bardwell, the lawsuit said, and Beth Bardwell asked Humphrey if they were a "mixed couple." When told they were an interracial couple, Beth Bardwell said, according to the lawsuit, "We don't do interracial weddings," and told her the two would have to go outside the parish to marry.

Bardwell did not return repeated phone calls from CNN in October, but told CNN affiliate WAFB that he had no regrets about the decision. "It's kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you haven't done wrong," he said.

In addition, he told the Hammond Daily Star in an October story that he did not marry the couple because he was concerned for the children that might be born of the relationship and that, in his experience, most interracial marriages don't last.

"I'm not a racist," he said. "I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children."

>>>http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/03/louisiana.interracial.marriage/index.html

quote:

Originally posted by IHAWKER:
Louisiana justice who refused interracial marriage resigns...

"I'm not a racist," he said...

Not a racist...Yeah, right.

He should have done that when he refused to marry them. Pretty sure the citizens let him know he was in the wrong when word got out.

Dont let the door hit you in the azz!


I had a Capt that thought I and other Marines shouldnt marry Asians. Psst they're different.
Didnt matter that I was in Asia 4yrs straight at the time. I told him if he could marry a PR why couldnt I marry an Asian. He still denied my paperwork and I still started the marriage paperwork.

He was a turd and still is.