NATIONAL BRIEFING / LOUISIANA
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A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, said it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” Bardwell said.
“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.”
Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the last 2 1/2 years.
Beth Humphrey, 30, and Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.
Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, recently returned to Louisiana.
She is white and he is black.
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