Louisiana justice who refused to marry interracial couples steps down
By Katie Farden | No comments
Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell—who refused to marry interracial couples—resigned Tuesday.
Bardwell, who served in Tangipahoa Parish, would recommend mixed-race couples find another justice to perform their marriage ceremony. He abstains from officiating these unions, he has said in interviews with the AP, because he thinks biracial children often face challenges growing up.
He told the Associated Press he “just does not believe in mixing races that way” in October, when his refusal to marry Beth Humphrey, a white woman and Terrence McKay, a black man, drew national attention.
Humphrey and McKay have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Bardwell.


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