Loving Day
“Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law.” — Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for the Supreme Court of the United States in Loving v. Virginia
On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1), ending race-based restrictions on marriage across the country. Loving Day is an annual celebration commemorating the Supreme Court’s ruling. The mission of Loving Day, which is celebrated each year on the anniversary of the Court’s decision, is to “fight racial prejudice through education and to build multicultural community.”
Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), appealed their case to the Supreme Court from the Virginia Supreme Court. The Virginia Supreme Court had upheld the Loving’s 1959 felony convictions for interracial marriage, and being married out of state (the Lovings married in Washington, D.C., where interracial marriages where legal) and returning to Virginia.
Anti-miscegenation laws, or laws criminalizing interracial marriage, had been in place in states across the U.S. since the 17th Century. Sixteen states still had anti-miscegenation laws on the books when Loving v. Virginia was decided by the Supreme Court. Such laws remained in place even after the Loving ruling despite being unenforceable. More than 30 years after the Supreme Court decision, Alabama became the last state to repeal anti-miscegenation laws in 2000. Alabama judges also enforced anti-miscegenation laws until 1970, when a U.S. District Court ruled against them in United States v. Brittain (319 F. Supp. 1058).
Courts later discussed Loving v. Virginia in the context of gay marriage. In a public statement issued on the 40th anniversary of Loving, Mildred Loving stated, “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.” (EK)
