Loving in America: a Review of Marriage Equality for Interracial Couples
On the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. day, Evan and I talked to our children about the history of segregation. Our kids fully understood how terrible treating people differently (and unfairly) based on their race or skin tone was and still is today. We explained that in those times, mama and daddy would not have been allowed to be married.
Each Valentine’s day, Evan and I are blessed to have 6 more months spent in marriage together under our belts. We are proud of our multi-racial, multi-cultural union- from which we created our two beautiful mixed babies. We have always been lucky to receive the full support of our families and friends yet- even now-there are many couples across the world who do not feel the same relief. They often experience the unnecessary stress placed on their relationships caused by the negative stigma of interracial marriage.
Although laws against mixed marriages are now ruled as unconstitutional, this was not always the case and biases are still around to this day. Marriage equality laws for interracial couples were made possible after the case of Richard and Mildred Loving was boosted out of their small town in Virginia all the way to the Supreme Court.
Mildred & Richard LovingPhoto: Getty Images
Richard and Mildred Loving were both born in Central Point Virginia in the 1930's. Although they attended different schools due to segregation laws, they ended up falling in love and dated for some time before finding out they were pregnant with their first child.
Richard and Mildred drove to Washington D.C. get married on June 2nd, 1958. At the time, it was illegal for an interracial couple to get married in 24 states, including Virginia.
On July 14th, 1958, two police officers came to the Loving's home at 2a.m. in hopes of finding them having sex - which would put them in violation of another Virginia law. The couple attempted to prove they were married but were then arrested and charged.
"Cohabitating as man and wife, against the peace dignity of the commonwealth.”
The Loving’s were sentenced to a year in prison on January 6th, 1959 after submitting a guilty plea. They had violated Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which forbid interracial marriage. The judge suspended the sentence after the couple agreed to leave the state for no less than 25 years.
After a few difficult years in D.C. away from family support, the couple wrote to Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General at the time. Kennedy suggested Mildred contact the American Civil Liberties Union, who took on their case. With little possibility of any judge in Virginia ruling in their favor, their lawyers brought the case to the Supreme Court. The legal team argued that the laws in Virginia violated the Fourteenth Amendment - specifically the Equal Protection law. In a landmark civil rights decision, denying individuals the basic civil right of marriage was found to be unconstitutional.
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"Under our constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state. These convictions must be reversed. It is so ordered."
The Loving case not only changed marriage laws in all states for interracial couples but also set the precedent for marriage equality laws for our LGBTQ+ identifying Americans. Love is love no matter your cultural background, skin color, religion, sex, or identity. All love is beautiful, and it is meant to be celebrated.
