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Tuesday February 9th 2010

I Will Not Officiate a Black and White Couple Wedding

Beth Humphrey and husband Terence McKay    -                      Photo Source: CNN
Beth Humphrey and husband Terence McKay - Photo Source: CNN
According to Judge Keith Bardwell, who is also an elected Justice of the Peace in Tangipahoa Parish’s 8th Ward in Louisiana, his refusal to issue a marriage license and preside over the wedding of an interracial couple is based solely on his experience that most interracial marriages don’t last. Bardwell also added that he is not a racist and was only concerned for the children who might be born of the relationship.

 

The couple – Beth Humphrey, white is 30 year-old and her African American boyfriend, Terence McKay is 32 year-old. The couple resides in Hammond, Louisiana.

 

Until the landmark 1967 Richard and Mildred Loving versus Virginia case, Judge Keith Bardwell’s so-called racist forefathers and the Supreme Court declared that states could ban mixed marriages, finding that this did not break the constitutional requirement to treat everybody equally, arguing that white people and black people were punished in equal measure for breaking the miscegenation laws.

Should an elected Justice of the Peace be removed from office for refusing to officiate the wedding of an interracial couple?

 

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5 Responses to “I Will Not Officiate a Black and White Couple Wedding”

  1. Mike Licht says:

    Tangipahoa Parish has another claim to fame: It was the filming location for In the Heat of the Night, the TV show about race and the law.

  2. Mike Hulsey says:

    Bardwell is right in his statement that they don’t tend to last (then again, neither do most marriages these days – but interracial marriages suffer far more in that department than normal ones). He is also right in his concern for any children born of this affair.

    Studies have shown that children from interracial couples suffer from identity problems among other social woes, not to mention the obvious medical difficulties of finding appropriate donors should a medical problem occur or an accident happen. Any parent that would subject their child to that shouldn’t be a parent at all.

    Also not mentioned was that interracial marriages end in violent homicide 7.7 times more than normal marriages.

    Bardwell is not discriminating, as he won’t marry ANY interracial couples. The ACLU should be defending him, not the couple.

  3. Ummmm says:

    How is refusal to officiate their wedding going to save their children pain? They don’t have to get married to have kids. Having a marriage certificate does not determine the type of parents they will be. It is simply a contract made between two adults that whereby they SAY they will be faithful to each other. Unfortunately, most people don’t honor this contract, nor do they stick with it anymore. Divorce rates prove that.

  4. Monica Ester says:

    i cant believe he is thinking like that. i believe more same race marriages dont last as long as interracial marriages. i feel that is unfair. interracial marriages should be acceptable

  5. Ben says:

    He should have refused to marry them because the groom is short and ugly. Of course this relationship won't last.
     

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