A Louisiana official is coming under fire for his refusal to marry an interracial couple.
Judge Keith Bardwell, an elected justice of the peace for 34 years, told a Louisiana newspaper that he refused to marry the white Beth Humphrey, 30, and her black boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, for the sake of their future children.
"I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves," Bardwell told the Hammond Daily Star. "In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer."
Bardwell insisted that he is not a racist, noting that he has married black couples before.
His refusal has led the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana to request that the Louisiana Judiciary Committee remove Bardwell from office.
"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," ACLU attorney Katie Schwartzmann told the paper. "The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."
Bardwell is the 8th Ward justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish.
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Louisiana Judge Refuses to Marry Interracial Couple, Says 'Children Will Later Suffer'
HispanicBusiness.com staff
Source: HispanicBusiness.com. All Rights Reserved.
Total Comments: 2 | Pending Comments: 0
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10/17/2009 9:53:11 PM PST
If this man is worried about the children's future - then we all should be worried about their future as well and remove him now or do no reappoint him beause this is just ridicoulsy stupid of him. He has no clue as to what these parents will teach their childre, which is obviously not the same teaching he received as well as has dished out to his children. Ignorance, no matter what color or what form it comes in, needs to be REMOVED!
Kali, RN
10/16/2009 6:56:51 PM PST
This calls into question EVERY action ever performed by this official that had any relation to/impact on any non-white subject. His action is a direct constitutional violation and he MUST be immediately removed from this position and should not EVER hold any public service position unless he can prove himself rehabilitated.
