La. Justice Resigns Over Refusal to Marry Interracial Couple
Advert
The Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry an interracial couple has resigned Tuesday, the secretary of state's office said.
In a one-sentence statement to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, Keith Bardwell said: "I do hereby resign the office of Justice of the Peace for the Eighth Ward of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, effective November 3, 2009."
Bardwell said he refused to marry interracial couples while serving as a Louisiana justice of the peace at least four times in the last 2 1/2 years.
"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said in an October interview with The Associated Press. "I think those children suffer, and I won't help put them through it."
"What he did was clearly wrong and this resignation was long overdue," the Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said in a statement.
Bardwell had refused to sign a Louisiana couple’s marriage license because they were a "mixed couple."
Bardwell told CNN he had no regrets about the decision.
"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 said.
Seriously? Long overdue is right.