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Keith BardwellBy MELINDA DESLATTE
Associated Press Writer
BATON ROUGE, LA (AP) - A Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry a couple because the bride was white and groom was black has resigned.
Louisiana Secretary of State's Office spokesman Jacques Berry said Keith Bardwell's resignation was effective Tuesday.
"This was the right decision by Mr. Bardwell," Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a released statement on the matter. "What he did was clearly wrong and this resignation was long overdue."
Bardwell refused to perform the ceremony for Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay because they are of different races.
Bardwell acknowledged he routinely recused himself from marrying interracial couples because he believes such marriages cause harm to the couples' children.
Another justice of the peace eventually married the couple.
Humphrey and McKay have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Bardwell.
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(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
