Oct 15 2009
If Keith Bardwell doesn’t want to do his job…
Then he should find someone who is willing to do it. This is an amazing story to be reporting on, considering it’s 2009 and not 1959.
Meet Keith Bardwell. Bardwell has served as a Louisiana justice of the peace for over 34 years at Tangipahoa Parish. In his entire time of service Bardwell has refused to marry interracial couples.
“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. “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.”
Instead, Bardwell refuses to marry interracial couples because he reached the conclusion that both black and white society are reluctant to accept offspring of such relationships.
“There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage,” Bardwell said. “I think those children suffer and I won’t help put them through it.”
While this is a subject that could probably use a little more discussion and debate, the fact remains that Bardwell is breaking the law.
“He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann.
I’m not trying to tell Bardwell that he needs to change his opinion, far from it. However, if marrying interracial couples is morally wrong to him then the Tangipahoa Parish needs to find someone who is ok with it. I’d like to think that our society has at least advanced that much in the past five decades.
“That was one thing that made this so unbelievable,” said Beth Humphrey, who was denied a marriage license by Bardwell. “It’s not something you expect in this day and age.”
Beth Humphrey and her partner Terence McKay said they are considering consulting the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.
The ACLU is already taking action. They recently sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, demanding an investigation on Bardwell and recommending “the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice.”
Sources:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BBRD8O0
