Justice denies marriage license to interracial couple
Jamie Reeves, News Editor
photo: Graphic by Sarah Powell
Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace for Tangipahoa parish in Louisiana, has drawn widespread criticism and outrage for refusing to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple.
Bardwell claimed in an interview with CNN that he is not a racist and that his main concern was for the children who might be born of that relationship. He said that in his experience, most interracial marriages do not last.
Beth Humphrey and her fiancé Terence McKay were denied a marriage license from Bardwell. They have received one from another justice in the same county and have turned to an attorney to determine their next course of action.
“We would like him to resign,” Humphrey said in an interview with CNN. “He does not believe he is being racist. But it is racist.”
Bardwell’s actions have not gone unnoticed by Louisiana State Governor Bobby Jindal, who called for the justice’s dismissal.
Jindal issued a formal statement concerning the incident that explained, “This is a clear violation of constitutional rights and federal and state law...disciplinary action should be taken immediately, including the revoking of his license.”
Bardwell defended his actions and said, “It is kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you have not done wrong.”
The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has begun an investigation into the incident.
Racially-based limitations on marriage were tossed out by the Supreme Court in the 1967 Loving v. Virginia case.
In an unanimous decision, the court held that “under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”
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