YAY! Interracial couple denied marriage license in Louisiana

Zer0 · Post by **Zer0** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:18 am

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_ ... ial_rebuff

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer
Fri Oct 16, 4:50 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"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."

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"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."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She is white and he is black. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," she said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.

"We are looking forward to having children," Humphrey said. "And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we're typical happy newlyweds."

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice."

"He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.

According to the clerk of court's office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.

Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.

The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk's office.

"I've been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don't think I've mistreated anybody," Bardwell said. "I've made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it."

Post by **DerGolgo** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:23 am

Way to rationalize your racism, douchebag.
Yeah, you're only thinking of their good, aren't you?

Fuck him, fuck him, fuck him. With the splintery end of a snapped baseball bat.

wheezy e · Post by **wheezy e** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:42 am

Give the guy a break. If you keep to marrying in the family you don't really get around to seeing much race mixing. The whole idea is probably pretty new to this fellow and his wife/cousin.

SomeMook · Post by **SomeMook** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:33 pm

Wow. Someone needs a kick in the balls. And that couple needs to find a different JOP.

Ames · Post by **Ames** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:47 pm

"...they use my bathroom." I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after reading that. What a truly grotesque piece of shit this guy is.
"I don't believe in the races mixing..." What races? Human?

erosvamp · Post by **erosvamp** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:10 pm

"I have piles and piles of black friends."

Are they dead... in your back yard?

MagnusTheBuilder · Post by **MagnusTheBuilder** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:32 pm

I tried writing several different responses to this, I tried to be clever, I tried to be cynical, but honestly all I can come up with is:

Fuck That Guy. How did he become a JOP?

Post by **DerGolgo** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:34 pm

"I have piles and piles of black friends."

If he already has his own piles, what does he need the piles of his black friends for? Does he have some manner of transplant-fetish? Why the heck would anyone hold on to somebody else's piles, anyway?
Some people are assholes towards their asshole.

sweetpea · Post by **sweetpea** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:02 pm

Ignorance like a gun in hand reach out to the promised land
Your history books are full of lies, media -blitz gonna dry your eyes
You're eighteen wanna be a man
Your granddaddy's in the Klu Klux Klan
Taking two steps foward and four steps back
Gonna go to the White House and paint it black

motorpsycho67 · Post by **motorpsycho67** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:50 pm

Yeah, interracial kids suffer and will probably never amount to anything.

Nothing important anyway, like say, POTUS.

What a Class A piece of shit.

Damn I hate ignorant fucks like that.

Nevermind a kick in the nuts, that'd be way too nice. I say castrate the fucker and make him eat it.

I hope his son comes out of the closet and marries an atheist black man.

FastCat · Post by **FastCat** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:10 pm

What is so startling to me about this whole story is that the JOP in-question is so ignorant of the law that he actually believes the foulness spewing out of his mouth.

He thought he was within his rights.

I honestly believe that he thinks he's not a racist.

That's the most disturbing thing about the story IMO.

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:18 am

Ah Louisiana...

UndertheGun · Post by **UndertheGun** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:23 am

FastCat wrote:What is so startling to me about this whole story is that the JOP in-question is so ignorant of the law that he actually believes the foulness spewing out of his mouth.

He thought he was within his rights.

I honestly believe that he thinks he's not a racist.

That's the most disturbing thing about the story IMO.

Agreed.

Korpen · Post by **Korpen** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:30 am

They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom.

That didn't even make sequential sense unless he marries them at his home...

piccini9 · Post by **piccini9** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:55 am

Fuck this shit, I'm moving to New York.

Pancake · Post by **Pancake** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:23 am

Bigshankhank wrote:Ah Louisiana...

I was thinking the same thing... Some of parts of Louisiana are third world.. that's for sure.

Zer0 · Post by **Zer0** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:33 am

erosvamp wrote:
"I have piles and piles of black friends."
Are they dead... in your back yard?

Doubtful, but the bathroom the black people use probably is.