NEW ORLEANS (Thursday, 10/15/09)– A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he would not give a marriage license to an mixed race couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace says it 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 said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.
Bardwell said that most of black society does not accept the children of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.
"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."
Bardwell said that he has refused to marry about four mixed couples during his career.
One of these couples is Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay. She is white and he is black. They called about getting a marriage license and Bardwell said he would not give them one because they were a mixed couple.
"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," Beth said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."
They will be filing a lawsuit because discrimination is against the law.
Questions:
1) Where did this story take place?
2) When did this story take place?
3) What is the name of the justice of the peace that will not marry mixed couples?
4) Why did he say he refuses to marry mixed couples?
5) What are the names of the two people he refused to marry?
Info from AP
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