![Before June of 1967, sixteen states still prohibited interracial marriage, including Virginia, the home of Richard Perry Loving, a white man, and his wife, Mildred Loving, a woman of African-American and Native-American descent.
Nine years prior, in June 1958, the couple traveled to Washington, D.C. — where interracial marriage was legal — to get married. When they returned home, however, they were arrested and sentenced to one year in jail for violating the state’s Racial Integrity Act.
[…]
“They just were in love with one another and wanted the right to live together as husband and wife in Virginia, without any interference from officialdom. When I told Richard that this case was, in all likelihood, going to go to the Supreme Court of the United States, he became wide-eyed and his jaw dropped,” [their lawyer] Cohen said.
In June 1967, the court unanimously declared Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 unconstitutional and ended all race-based marriage bans in the U.S.
This story of Virginia’s first legal interracial marriage is a perfect example of why the government has no right to be involved in the business of marriage — either to disapprove or approve of any marriage of any kind (excluding, obviously, coerced marriages and other non-voluntary arrangements). John Stossel explains, quoting a guest from his show:
“It is a mistake to allow government to define what marriage should be, gay or not. It should get out of the business of defining marriage at all and let people engage in … a private relationship.”
OK by me. Who needs the government’s sanction anyway?
Indeed. Is the essence of your (maybe future) marriage really in the fact that the government let you get hitched, or in your commitment to your spouse and the support of your family, friends, and religious community? I’d suggest it’s very definitely the latter. As the Lovings’ lawyer put it, “They just were in love with one another and wanted the right to live together as husband and wife in Virginia, without any interference from officialdom.”](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly9birUx4q1qcfvc7o1_400.jpg)
Before June of 1967, sixteen states still prohibited interracial marriage, including Virginia, the home of Richard Perry Loving, a white man, and his wife, Mildred Loving, a woman of African-American and Native-American descent.Nine years prior, in June 1958, the couple traveled to Washington, D.C. — where interracial marriage was legal — to get married. When they returned home, however, they were arrested and sentenced to one year in jail for violating the state’s Racial Integrity Act.
[…]
“They just were in love with one another and wanted the right to live together as husband and wife in Virginia, without any interference from officialdom. When I told Richard that this case was, in all likelihood, going to go to the Supreme Court of the United States, he became wide-eyed and his jaw dropped,” [their lawyer] Cohen said.
In June 1967, the court unanimously declared Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 unconstitutional and ended all race-based marriage bans in the U.S.
This story of Virginia’s first legal interracial marriage is a perfect example of why the government has no right to be involved in the business of marriage — either to disapprove or approve of any marriage of any kind (excluding, obviously, coerced marriages and other non-voluntary arrangements). John Stossel explains, quoting a guest from his show:
“It is a mistake to allow government to define what marriage should be, gay or not. It should get out of the business of defining marriage at all and let people engage in … a private relationship.”
OK by me. Who needs the government’s sanction anyway?
Indeed. Is the essence of your (maybe future) marriage really in the fact that the government let you get hitched, or in your commitment to your spouse and the support of your family, friends, and religious community? I’d suggest it’s very definitely the latter. As the Lovings’ lawyer put it, “They just were in love with one another and wanted the right to live together as husband and wife in Virginia, without any interference from officialdom.”
