Keith Bardwell and interracial marriage

"Keith Bardwell wants desperately to give his racism a happy face," said Andrew Belonsky in Gawker. The white Louisiana justice of the peace refused to give an interracial couple—Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay—a marriage license because he said both blacks and whites would reject their mixed-race babies. Bardwell says he has "piles and piles of black friends" whom he marries and lets use his bathroom! See, he's not a bigot—just a good Samaritan!

Racists use excuses like that all the time, said Ryan Peterson in RightJuris.com. Keith Bardwell is dreaming if he thinks anyone will believe he's not prejudiced because "he treats all interracial couples the same, like dirt." But the bottom line is that Bardwell is putting himself above Louisiana law, which places no racial restrictions on people wishing to marry, so he needs to be removed from office.

"For the sake of argument," said Michael Merritt in PoliGazette, "I’ll take the unpopular position," and ask why Keith Bardwell should be compelled to marry interracial couples. Yes, it's "wrong," and Louisiana law says Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay have every right to get married—but why does Bardwell have to preside over the ceremony if it goes against his beliefs? He's only making the same arguments gay-marriage opponents make. "If we allow marriage officials to deny their services to gay couples, we must also do this for interracial couples, as well as white couples."

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