Louisiana justice who refused marriage license to interracial couple resigns.
Louisiana justice who refused marriage license to interracial couple resigns.
Last month, Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell stirred controversy when he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple because he believes that such marriages don’t usually last very long. “I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. Now, the Louisiana secretary of state’s office says that Bardwell has resigned:
A Louisiana justice of the peace who drew criticism for refusing to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple has resigned, the secretary of state’s office said Tuesday.
Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish’s 8th Ward, was widely criticized after he refused to grant a marriage license to Beth McKay and Terence McKay, an interracial couple who ultimately got a marriage license from another justice of the peace in the same parish.
The McKays hired an attorney and protested the justice’s actions.
Despite a national uproar and a call by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for him to lose his license, Bardwell, 56, said in October that he had no regrets. “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 told CNN affiliate WAFB.
Civil rights organizations had called for Bardwell to resign while Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) had called for him to be dismissed. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), on the other hand, would only go so far as to say that Bardwell “should follow the law as written.”
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Louisiana justice who refused marriage license to interracial couple resigns.
– - How soon before the Tea-Bagger/9-12ers/Tenther Party recruits him to run for another office?
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 pmWill Fox News hire this guy? They should, he followed their instructions on how to treat his fellow Americans.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:48 pmMaybe he can find work in Vegas.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 pmWhat the judge did was against the law. He should have been fired, and the state should have been very public about it to make an example out this a$$hole. He should not have been allowed to quietly resign and keep any sort of dignity in his own mind.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:57 pm“I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,”
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm—–
As opposed to all those children that select their parents in advance of birth…
I agree with Sam Sunset. People that are in public positions and behave this way should be fired in a very public way to set an example for any other person that would try to push his bigotry on the public
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:04 pmGreat news! Glad the Louisiana justice is gone. Next!
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 pmi am sure he’ll be a featured guest on the tub-o-lard linpballs show where they’ll have a sausage party talking about how the white man is being kept down.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:12 pmSP Biloxi says:
Great news! Glad the Louisiana justice is gone. Next!
Next, how about Senator David “John” Vitter? His term is up next year.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:13 pm“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 told CNN affiliate WAFB.
Yeah well, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, you sleazy f ucking racist.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pmGood.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 pm““It’s kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you haven’t done wrong,”
apparently, someone failed to mention to this turd he was a justice of the peace and not freaking god making moral judgements.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 pmHURRAH!!
And good damn riddance to that lousy bigot!!
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:22 pmDon’t forget to leave by the door marked “whites only”.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:24 pmI like the way things are going on this front.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:27 pmTonight is judgment day for you libs. You have been in power a long, long time picking on conservatives, doing your fact-checking.
We were sitting there, minding our own teabagging business when you stormed in and made us work 5, 6 days a week and put the pages off limits.
You will pay .. (sobbing) … the American people know how badly you’ve victmized us.
Tommorrow the hot girls will be in our isle, comforting our souls and asking for tips how we got through the oppression.
Tomorrow we will be the cool kids at school.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 pmHe’s on Palin’s short list for the Supreme Court.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 pmFred says:
I like the way things are going on this front.
Me too.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 pmWhy did the SOB wait so long? He must have realized he was hated, and what he did was illegal. But he played the victim card first. Don’t ALL the Repugs play the victim card? The ‘Media’, ‘Gotcha questions’. I can’t beleive the ‘Party of Reagan’ is the ‘Party of Whiners’.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 pmBy this time tomorrow he will be a martyr. Hate radio will blame President Obama. And Becky will sob his praises over the “great sacrifice for the conservative cause”.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:37 pmP.D.
Isn’t it disgusting? The same bullies who decried the “wimp factor” resemble nothing more than a bunch of tired, cranky, teething, toddlers.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 pmA special press release from Keith Blackwell…”Thank you for letting me retire instead of sending me to prison where I should have gone.”
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 pmP.D. says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
PD, the sad thing is he really doesn’t think he did anything wrong. That’s how very deep-seated his racism is — it’s normal to him.
This guy is the kind of racist I worry about — the hidden kind. The KKK and neo-Nazis are out there where we can see them, and keep an eye on them. This guy is (or was) in the shadows practicing his insidious brand of racism, all the while looking like the kindly old justice of the peace.
*shudder*
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:46 pm“It’s kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you haven’t done wrong,”
Usually is for racists and bigots….and reichwinger scum bags.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:49 pmZooey, He is just like all the ‘Tea-baggers’ and ‘912ers’ They refused to admit they are racists. Oh, they don’t like Obama because he is a Marxist, Socialist, Communist, and Hitler-like. But they don’t hate him because he’s BLACK! What a bunch of As*holes.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 pmExactly, PD.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pmWill resigning allow him to keep any pension he might have coming (if he had one coming from this job)? I hope not.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:29 pmSadly, I believe so.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 pmBardwell – lest you think that your career was at all successful: EPIC FAIL!
You will always be known for this.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pmWhat the GOP REALLY means … says:
Tonight is judgment day for you libs. You have been in power a long, long time picking on conservatives, doing your fact-checking.
We were sitting there, minding our own teabagging business when you stormed in and made us work 5, 6 days a week and put the pages off limits.
You will pay .. (sobbing) … the American people know how badly you’ve victmized us.
Tommorrow the hot girls will be in our isle, comforting our souls and asking for tips how we got through the oppression.
Tomorrow we will be the cool kids at school.
Translation…
:P
/s
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 pmIn response to the original news story, a new organization/website was started-
MISSION STATEMENT- To facilitate the cultural recognition of interracial/multicultural families and disassociate this culture from longstanding stigma by exposing and discrediting stereotypes.
I am so please that this has resolved the way it should!
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pmhttp://www.interracialfamily.org
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 pmI think that’s for the best.
He still ought to be sued, if only for a nominal amount, like a dollar (plus legal fees), just to put the next JP they elect on notice that he needs to treat everyone evenhandedly, and he shouldn’t be a putz.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:32 am@ 4. Sam Sunset…
I agree that he should’ve been put out as quickly as possible, but resignation is probably the path to that.
JPs are elected in Louisiana, so they can’t just be fired or removed from office. The Attorney General of the state may be able to suspend a JPs practice of the office pending an investigation or if a criminal code violation takes place, but the whole business of removal from office probably ends up in a State court or the legislature, unless the guy just agrees to resign.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:40 amI’m actually surprised he resigned. Why? The only actual laws he probably broke were Federal laws, and I don’t see Holder saying a word, much less prosecuting this guy. He’s just progressive porn–and now he’s given himself his just desserts.
He must have been facing a ton of scrutiny from his OWN circle somehow…or else the local media wouldn’t let go of it and made his life miserable. If that’s true, then the shocking thing is that he hasn’t been found out before THIS time.
November 4th, 2009 at 4:09 am“I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,”
November 4th, 2009 at 9:26 am