“Marriage is something more than a civil contract subject to regulation by the state: it is a fundamental right of free men. There can be no prohibition of marriage except for an important social objective and by reasonable means.”
Judge Roger Traynor, 1948 Perez vs. Sharp California court decision, the first instance of a state Supreme Court striking down laws prohibiting interracial marriage
Two months ago Mildred Loving, whose marriage to a white man would provide the basis for the historic 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down bans on interracial marriage (the aptly-named Loving vs. Virginia), died at age 68.
Curious to learn more about her life, I went out and bought Phyl Newbeck’s book Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers: Interracial Marriage Bans and the Case of Richard and Mildred Loving, which I finished a few weeks back. (The irony that my older brother’s 1970 marriage to an African-American woman in Virginia would have been impossible just three years before — if not for the courage of Mr. and Mrs. Loving – is not lost on me.) The depth and pervasiveness of laws banning interracial marriage amazed me. Only 9 states (Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin) never had laws banning interracial marriage (curiously, 6 of these 9 are states that recognize in some way equal marriage rights for same sex couple today). Astoundingly, at the time of the Loving decision in 1967, 16 states still had interracial marriage bans (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia). And despite the Loving decision, change did not happen overnight: in 1977 in my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, magistrates refused to marry an interracial couple citing “deeply felt religions and personal beliefs against such marriages”: not until 1984 did the Supreme Court rule that race cannot be a factor in custody decisions; and Alabama’s (unenforceable) ban on interracial marriages was not repealed until 2000.
On the 40th anniversary of her historic victory in 2007, Mrs. Loving made the following moving statement about her role as a trailbalzer and its import for today’s battles around marriage equality for same-sex couples:
“When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn’t to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.
Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong kind of person… The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.
We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love…
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,” a “basic civil right.”
I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.
I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Loving. You lived up to your name.