Terence McKay claims a justice of the peace refused to give him and his white girlfriend a marriage license.
Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell has refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple because he believes that such marriages don’t usually last very long:
“I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house,” Bardwell said. “My main concern is for the children.”
He must imagine they could suffer horribly from the biases and perceptions of Neanderthals like himself.
This rivals the recent story about black kids kicked out of a swim club. What year are we living in again?
But the craziest part is the justice’s astoundingly self-deluded defense, that he just wants to prevent them from having kids:
“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way.”
Someone needs to tell this guy what “racist” means.
The couple said they “will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.” (HT: Right Wing Watch)
This is the fourth time he’s done this, according to MSNBC. And he’s not been fired or impeached, why?
I’d say I’ve noticed more right-wing racism in this country than ever before in my life since Obama was elected, but that would be stating the obvious. Instead of healing the divide, Obama’s election has brought out a lot of previously-hidden racism like this weirdness.
“It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. “The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry.”
Oops — yes they can. Gays still can’t get legally married in most states, even if they are an interracial couple! Now that is the government intruding into our private lives. Where are the Tea Baggers who protest government intrusion when you need them?
From CNN and Think Progress.
Join me at 
WHAT! The year of 2009 and I’m not talking about B.C., during the Roman Empire. This is America 2009. But there are still thousands, yes, thousands of Red Necks that hold powerful positions around the world that are still depriving BLACK PEOPLE OF CIVIL RIGHTS; and what is the government doing about this, NOTHING. THIS JUDGE OR JUSTICE OF THE PEACE SHOULD BE FIRED, HE SHOULD NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO RESIGN. The Veterans Administration still have these type of people in powerful positions all across the country. The KKK and Aryan nation is rampant at the V.A.Regional Office in St Petersburg FL and across the country, White people are too busy still discussing why O. J. was aquitted of murder. AT THE PALIN, MCCAIN RALLIES, THEY WERE SHOUTING THE N WORD AND YELLING KILL OBAMA. EVERY BLACK PERSON WHO HEARD OR SAW THESE RALLIES WERE OFENDED. I AGREE WITH CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS, IT DID REMIND ME OF THE WHITE AND KKK MOVEMENT AGAINST THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE 1960′S. JOHN LEWIS SHOULD HAVE NEVER APOLOGIZED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH BECAUSE ALL OF BLACK AMERICA KNEW IT WAS TRUE.
Ohhh this how is it going start, and people said the gays weren’t marching for equality, silly people its called civil rights and human rights. I believe this only the begining, when you dont stand up for others rights all rights are in peril!
I’m about as right wing and conservative as they come, something I am proud of and make NO apologies for. And even though this is apparently NOT a right wing friendly site, I’m still here to voice my opinion along with everyone else. Actually, even though it is not officially recognized as a party, I consider myself to be a libertarian. I am absolutely disgusted and fed up with the hypocritical Republican party.
I agree that the tea party people (the term “tea bagger” is a vile and non tolerant term, which is something liberals CERTAINLY are proud not to be) should take this up. It was strange when I read it because this type of thing is unheard of in our society. The only reason I clicked onto the story was because I didn’t believe the headline and figured there surely must be more to the story then just blatant racism. Alas, no such luck.
Government intrusion MUST be fought in all it’s forms. Even with the gay marriage issue. It’s really irrelevant that I find gay marriage repugnant, and morally bankrupt. It’s also irrelevant that I have acres of Bible scripture to back me up. So what? Or that I have no attraction to other races and would never consider marrying a black person. Or ANY volatile government issue, such as abortion.
What makes America such a wonderful place to live are our freedoms, and the freedom to choose how we live. No one is forced to marry someone they don’t wish to marry. If I don’t want to marry a minority, then I don’t have too. If I am repulsed by the gays, then I can choose NOT to live in a similar manner. I can choose to let my children live. Or not.
The point I’m trying to make, is that we won’t have these freedoms if we don’t reign in our government. We’d better do it quickly. Regardless of whether or not your liberal or conservative, I think we can all agree on one thing: In the end, the people of this country are going to get the country they deserve.
Please! Is anyone surprised that this is coming from Louisiana or Mississippi? What are the chances for gay marriage across this country when people like Keith Bardell are still alive and breathing and holding any type of authority? The only thing the would be children of this couple have to fear is Keith Bardell and his ignorant, backwoods, probably hard-core Christian-based belief in discrimination. Yes – It is the churches who have planted these silly beliefs in peoples minds. You must believe in discrimination in order to get to heaven. Church goers will do anything they are told if they think it will buy them everlasting life. No wonder the church is so popular. What other institutions are offering everlasting life? Mr. Bardell needs to start thinking for himself. Pronto.
Yeah- a mixed race kid might grow up to be president of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Idiot.
I thought judges were to know their constitutional law before sitting at a bench, obviously it doesn’t matter in LA(state, not city). Has someone not told him that there was case decide by the supreme court: Loving v. Virginia (1960)….maybe he should read it, if the bumpkin can do that much…I might be asking for too much, what do you all think, is that too much to ask from our republican judges??? Republican state in LA….we need our true American Republican to stand up against this injustice and call for his firing not resignation, if there are any real republican americans out there???!!!!
This story leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. I imagine this really upsets African-Americans. They are getting a little taste of what it feels like to be denied marriage if you just so happen to be gay. African Americans voted overwhelmingly in the Proposition 8 referendum in California to deny gay marriages. They too are not indifferent to discrimination. They should be the ones on the front lines of defending gay marriage. It is a historical fact that gays participated mightily in the Civil Rights marches of the early 60’s to help bring African Americans into the fold of American society. Gays knew that we are all intertwined and that if one of us is discriminated against, the possibility remains for all of us to be discriminated against. This lesson was never passed on to the African American communities. We are still waiting for their help.
this is ridiculous. we talk about how far we’ve come in america when it comes to racism.. and then some idiot pulls something like this. it is none of his business to decide who gets married and who doesn’t. they are in love and that is ALL that matters. things like this sometimes make me ashamed to admit i live in the same society as these people. but i’m glag that others see this the same why i do and i commend those people for taking the necessary steps to correct such an awful incident.
Who cares? As a gay man I am tired of defending African Americans when they don’t intend for a second to return the favor.
JomoDaMusicMan, your are RIGHT the “judge” should be fired! Our country must have zero tolerance for institutionalized racism. Many folks (of all color, creed, ethnic origin) are racists, but their personal (and perverse) views have no place in our government. So many people have come a long way from the institutional racism of our nation’s past. Obviously, there are still those who haven’t made the journey.
Where do I send money so that this couple can have a nice weekend in Vegas and get married?
I was stunned when I read this news and honestly do not understand how he has not been removed from office. I understand that there may be hoops that need to be jumped through but he needs to be fir4ed as soon as possible.
Hold on – someone could re-phrase this as “Public Official not forced to do what HE feels is wrong”. I personally believe that interracial marriages are perfectly fine, but come on – the guy referred the couple to another justice. A couple was not “Refused” the right to marry – just referred to another Justice! We should not be so shocked that someone has different beliefs.
Why doesn’t anyone point out the ultimate irony of the justice of the peace denying an inter-racial marriage AT THE SAME TIME as the child of an inter-racial marriage is visiting the state as President?
Wheres all the republicans in support of the justice? Go ahead defend him. Say something. :)
This guy is an idiot. This Justice of the Peace not only illegally trampled on the rights of the black gentleman to marry who he wants, but also trampled on the rights of his white fiance. So not only should black people be upset, but white people as well (and let’s not even get into the GLBT correlation! I’d be writing for days on that injustice). And yes, someone needs to explain to him what racist means. He is quoted as saying: “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.” WTF??? “…they use my bathroom…” is this guy for real?? I agree with the post that says he should not be allowed to resign. He shouldn’t be able to be rewarded with all of his benefits, retirement, pension, etc. because he acted like a racist a-hole. Fire him. Period.
When God created the different races of the world, He intended for them to remain separate. Those who marry across racial lines are breaking the laws that God made explicit in the Bible. The mixing of the races is responsible for the corruption of America and will eventually lead to the extinction of the White race.
If he is elected, then he has to follow up with the state’s laws. If they refuse to marry an interracial couple, they are breaking the law. I’m caucasion and I’m offended by this Justice (a contridiction) of the Peace. This is just plain wrong! And to think , they asked first if they were an interracial couple. They don’t have the right, by law, to ask that nor turn anyone away. Elected official – should be fired!
Back in the day the saying among my black co-workers was “It’s always about race.” Looks like it still is in some places, although to our credit as a nation this truly does stand out as way outside the norm. At least I hope so.
@Luke Aniston: God didn’t create different races. The “white race” is a myth. White people (and I’m one of them) started out as physical mutations of the world’s original people, who migrated north and lost the original pigment in their skin. That’s a mutation. Blue eyes are mutations too, by the way. The Biblical Jesus certainly wasn’t a white man. I thought your comment was a joke at first to be honest — there’s just so much wrong with it. ‘God’ certainly doesn’t want people to be separated by such a random thing like “race”. Most of our differences are regional and cultural differences anyway, having nothing to do with “race”. This judge is a moron. It’s a judge’s job to not be biased, not to make personal determinations like he did, that are racist.
I’m only leaving your comment here in case anyone wants to respond to it, but I completely reject your beliefs. No one needs to “preserve” any race. We’re all mixtures at this point anyway.
@dawn: I’ll call Tea Baggers something more respectful when they become sane, respectful people who drop their racism and right-wing paranoid insanity. They are also global warming deniers and many of them are ignorant and anti-government. At this point in time, they completely deserve a ‘vile’ term like “Tea Bagger”. (which I personally find humorous. Believe me, in private I call them much worse things). When they prove me wrong, I’ll make a big announcement of my change in policy.
S.T.: “Luke Aniston” is just trying to stir up trouble. I’ve seen his EXACT SAME post on almost all the websites covering this issue. Just thought you would want to know.
We cannot bring myths into this. I don’t know where this god stuff is coming from about races but it defies reason, science and offends me as a human being that part of our species says such nonsense. Does Luke not have access to a science book? I suggest everyone who thinks like this proceed at once to the library or go a google scholar search. Hasten! The survival of the species is at risk if we let you continue in ignorance and you happen to reproduce.
For any magistrate, to deny constitutional civil rights based upon race, is a criminal violation of federal civil rights.
Someone in Washington DC needs to “bitch slap” the jurisdictional US Attorney for being asleep at the wheel.
Lose his position, hah, put him in federal prison.
It was never a matter of his choice.
Hopefully his gene pool is shallow enough to evaporate soon.
Some support this JP, saying he has a right to not perform the marriage. Fine, I say: is he applying this rule consistently? Has he conducted rigorous statistical analysis to determine which combination of people will or will not have a successful marriage? What about tall women and short men? Ugly men and gorgeous women? How about old men and teenage girls (wait, that’s the norm for rural Looziyana). Or maybe women with less than 3 syllables in their last name can not marry men with more than 4 syllables in their first name …
Unless he can show that he has a rule book based upon his own scientific analysis of divorce rates, I don’t buy the “let him do what he wants” argument. And as for kids? Goodness, where does he get off? Again, is that within his purview? Has he done any analysis correlating child happiness with ordinal measures of parental racial background? Or any parental background?
Does he make sure, for example, that he doesn’t link up alcoholics in Holy matrimony, for the sake of their future offspring?
In the early fifties my parents (black and white) fell in love and married. Fortunately for our family (which grew to include five children), they were “forced” to settle in Canada as it was illegal to marry inter-racially in Alabama at that time. Unfortunately, we still had to defend our very presence not only in our neighbourhood and the community at large from time to time, but among family members as well. Even among family we existed in a kind of cultural vacuum as there were very few peers for us to relate to at that time. The benefit of this is that we were all fiercely independent and open minded thinkers.
I really thought by the time I reached my fifties this would not be an issue. However,I still find myself trying to explain this sad mindset to my children as people still often find it “unusual” In spite of this, for anyone worried about how “mixing the races” may impact any children you may have, do not let the prejudice of others dictate your choices in life.Your children will have a proud legacy and will hold you up as a model to aspire to in life.
Well put Kathy.
Good points EM, but I worry most about the very ignorant and bigoted reproducing. Their kids have a real disadvantage.
But lots of people don’t get married to have children in the first place, they get married just because they love each other. So this is like a judge saying he didn’t want them to get married because he didn’t approve of the car or the house they might buy together. It’s just as irrelevant and it’s none of his business.
I have to say I agree with PART of what the guy said about children of these relationships having a hard time. It’s true – I have several family members that are of “mixed” heritage. They are lucky to have the family they have that loves them and accepts them no matter what. The dad’s side of the family absolutely refuses to have anything to do with them because they are part white. The kids are grown now and still no connections to the other side of the family. Let’s face it, white people aren’t the only racists – it goes both ways.