Justice defends denial of marriage license

HAMMOND, La., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The Louisiana Justice of the Peace who refused to marry an interracial couple said Saturday he believes he made the right decision.

"It's kind of hard to apologize for something that really and truly down in your heart you don't feel you've done wrong," Keith Bardwell, who serves in Tangipahoa Parish north of New Orleans, told WAFB-TV, Baton Rouge. "I don't regret what I did, and if it ever came up again, I'd have to do the same thing."

Bardwell, who is white, unleashed a torrent of criticism when he told Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay of Hammond he would not perform the ceremony for them because they are of different races. Humphrey is white, and McKay is black.

McKay told CNN she was shocked when Bardwell's wife told her "we don't do interracial weddings."

"We are used to the closet racism, but we're not going to tolerate that overt racism from an elected official," she said. "He's not representing all the people that he is supposed to be representing. He's only representing the people with his same opinions."

Gov. Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American to serve as a U.S. state governor, called Friday for an investigation and revocation of Bardwell's license.

U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La, said the state judiciary committee should dismiss Bardwell, and Patricia Morris, who heads the NAACP in Tangipahoa Parish, said he should step down if he refuses to marry interracial couples.