Interracial couple denied marriage license [JP RESIGNS]

[Roamer]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091017/...rracial_rebuff

Man's halt of interracial marriage sparks outrage

• Play Video AP – La. official refuses to marry interracial couple

• Play Video Video:Couple's love separated by border AP
• Play Video Video:Tens of thousands in Unification mass wedding AP

AP – In this file photo, attorney Bill Quigley speaks before the New Orleans City Council in New Orleans, …



By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Mary Foster, Associated Press Writer – Sat Oct 17, 12:30 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana's governor and a U.S. senator joined Friday in calling for the ouster of a local official who refused to marry an interracial couple, saying his actions clearly broke the law.

Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black. His refusal has prompted calls for an investigation or resignation from civil and constitutional rights groups and the state's Legislative Black Caucus.

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a statement a nine-member commission that reviews lawyers and judges in the state should investigate.

"Disciplinary action should be taken immediately — including the revoking of his license," Jindal said.

Bardwell did not return calls left on his answering machine Friday.

Bardwell has said he always asks if a couple is interracial and, if they are, refers them to another justice of the peace. Bardwell said no one had complained in the past and he doesn't marry the couples because he's worried about their children's futures.

"Perhaps he's worried the kids will grow up and be president," said Bill Quigley, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice, referring to President Barack Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.

Obama's deputy press secretary Bill Burton echoed those sentiments.

"I've found that actually the children of biracial couples can do pretty good," Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One as it flew to Texas.

Humphrey and McKay were eventually married by another justice of the peace, but are now looking into legal action against Bardwell.

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to ask about a marriage license. She said Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell would not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples.

Bardwell maintains he can recuse himself from marrying people. Quigley disagreed.

"A justice of the peace is legally obligated to serve the public, all of the public," Quigley said. "Racial discrimination has been a violation of Louisiana and U.S. law for decades. No public official has the right to pick and choose which laws they are going to follow."

A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Judiciary Commission said investigations were confidential and would not comment. If the commission recommends action to the Louisiana Supreme Court, the matter would become public.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in a statement Bardwell's practices and comments were deeply disturbing.

"Not only does his decision directly contradict Supreme Court rulings, it is an example of the ugly bigotry that divided our country for too long," she said.

Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said Bardwell's views were not consistent with his or those of the local government. But as an elected official, Bardwell was not under the supervision of the parish government.


"However, I am certainly very disappointed that anyone representing the people of Tangipahoa Parish, particularly an elected official, would take such a divisive stand," Burgess said in an e-mail. "I would hope that Mr. Bardwell would consider offering his resignation if he is unable to serve all of the people of his district and our parish."

Bardwell, a Republican, has served as justice of peace for 34 years. He said he has run without opposition each time, but had decided earlier not to run again. His current term expires Dec. 31, 2014.
___ Associated Press writer Eileen Sullivan in College Station, Texas, contributed to this report.

[Roamer]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/03/lou...age/index.html



Louisiana justice who refused interracial marriage resigns







November 3, 2009 10:47 p.m. EST


Keith Bardwell has said he was concerned about children of mixed-race married couples.






(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.

Bardwell, speaking to CNN affiliate WBRZ, said he was advised "that I needed to step down because they was going to take me to court, and I was going to lose."

"I would probably do the same thing again," he said. "I found out I can't be a justice of the peace and have a conscience."

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-Louisiana, who had called for Bardwell's dismissal, said Tuesday night that "Bardwell has finally consented to the will of the vast majority of Louisiana citizens and nearly every governmental official in Louisiana. Bardwell's refusal to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples was out of step with our Louisiana values and reflected terribly on our state. We are better off without him in public service."

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."

Humphrey said in October that she wanted Bardwell to resign. "He doesn't believe he's being racist, but it is racist," she said.

According to the lawsuit, Bardwell estimated he refused to marry at least four other interracial couples in the past 2½ years.

"Defendant Beth Bardwell ... aided, abetted and conspired with defendant Keith Bardwell to deprive plaintiffs of their constitutionally protected civil rights," according to the suit.

No response to the suit has been filed, and it was unclear whether the Bardwells had retained an attorney. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, claiming that Humphrey and McKay suffered emotional distress as a result of the incident.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he believed Bardwell should lose his license, and the National Urban League called for an investigation into the incident by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, saying in a statement that Bardwell's actions were "a huge step backward in social justice."

According to the Census Bureau, Tangipahoa Parish is about 70 percent white and 30 percent black.

The U.S. Supreme Court tossed out any racially-based limitations on marriage in the landmark 1967 ruling in the case Loving v. Virginia. In the unanimous decision, the court said that under the Constitution, "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

[rockford2]

Maybe this man needs to take a GOOD look around as there are MANY biracial children attending schools that I see all the time and they don't seem to have any trouble! Many attended my son's grammar and middle school and never were they made fun of and many were extremely popular! Beautiful children as well as they have the best of everything. I feel those kids are doubly blessed to have 2 heritages that they receive from both parents!

[Jute]

I am relieved and delighted to hear that this (....) has resigned.

[Bayou Lass]

Originally Posted by rockford2

Maybe this man needs to take a GOOD look around as there are MANY biracial children attending schools that I see all the time and they don't seem to have any trouble! Many attended my son's grammar and middle school and never were they made fun of and many were extremely popular! Beautiful children as well as they have the best of everything. I feel those kids are doubly blessed to have 2 heritages that they receive from both parents!

Well said Rock! I hate to admit it but there are still people here in Louisiana living in the dark ages. The couple did find another Justice of the Peace to marry them and that makes me so very happy for them. The man needs to brush up on recent American History! Where did he get that he was thinking of the children that might be born of this marriage? Looking at both the mother and father, they would be beautiful children.

[Battnt]

I'm glad to know this idiot resigned...Now he can put back on his white robe and the dunce hat to go with it!...

[Louise]

Originally Posted by Battnt

I'm glad to know this idiot resigned...Now he can put back on his white robe and the dunce hat to go with it!...

I agree, he obviously was living in the past. Am glad to hear that they got married.

[rockford2]

Originally Posted by Louise

I agree, he obviously was living in the past. Am glad to hear that they got married.

I was shocked that there are STILL people who think this way!

[Jute]

Originally Posted by rockford2

I was shocked that there are STILL people who think this way!

I'm not. There are many, most either simply hide their feeling or try to cover the truth with a thin veneer of lies.

Something I found interesting during the Presidential campaign was how many people believed that their vote for Obama was proof that they were free of any feelings of people vs. race. Did they vote for the man, or the color of his skin?

Granted, a black man being elected President of the U.S. was a huge step; a barrier to true equality was broken. But people pointing out that they were voting for a black man reminded me of when people would say "many of my friends are black." If they are your friends, why do you need to add the qualifier of race? How often do you hear "many of my friends are tall"? JMO

[rockford2]

Originally Posted by Jute

I'm not. There are many, most either simply hide their feeling or try to cover the truth with a thin veneer of lies.

Something I found interesting during the Presidential campaign was how many people believed that their vote for Obama was proof that they were free of any feelings of people vs. race. Did they vote for the man, or the color of his skin?

Granted, a black man being elected President of the U.S. was a huge step; a barrier to true equality was broken. But people pointing out that they were voting for a black man reminded me of when people would say "many of my friends are black." If they are your friends, why do you need to add the qualifier of race? How often do you hear "many of my friends are tall"? JMO

Not once do I EVER see the color of anyone's skin but what is inside each and every person. I also don't see Mr. Obama as being the 'first' black President. I saw him as I see him today as being the most qualified and I believe he STILL is but having a very difficult job he inherited with past and present problems and everyone wanting him to perform some kind of magic.