Hammond - A justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish turned down a couple's request for a marriage license, because of his doubts concerning interracial marriage.
Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell says he isn't a racist: he marries black couples and he marries white couples - but not mixed couples.
So when Terrence McKay and Beth Humphrey of Hammond asked him to marry them last week, Bardwell said no.
Bardwell says, "I'm not a racist. I have plenty of black friends. When an inter-racial couple marries and has children, the blacks don't accept them and the whites don't accept them. I feel like I'm putting innocent kids in a bad situation. The Attorney General's office has told me I'm in violation of the law, but I have the right to recuse myself. I don't feel like I've done anything wrong."
Bardwell says he isn't telling inter-racial coupes they can't get married..only that he doesn't want to perform the ceremony.
Bardwell has been a justice of the peace for 34 years and says this has always been his policy.
Bardwell does give inter-racial couples the name and number of another justice of the peace who will marry them.
Nonetheless, the ACLU is outraged.
"We were horrified that an officer in the judicial system of Louisiana would take a position that is so blatantly contrary to the law of the land of this country and so hateful and racist that he would deny people the right to marry just because he doesn't like who they are," says Marjorie Esman of the ACLU.
This afternoon, the ACLU started the process of trying to remove Bardwell from his elected office.
"We have submitted a letter to the Judiciary Commission for an investigation. Their procedures are they investigate; they make a recommendation to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which can ultimately decide whether to remove this judge from office," says Esman.
Bardwell says although he doesn't want to resign, he'll step down before he'll change his policy.
An attorney has advised Bardwell to just tell inter-racial coupes he couldn't marry them because he was busy on the day of their ceremony.
Bardwell says he refuses to lie, that he may end up being wrong about his position, but it's even more wrong to lie.
