RIP Mildred Loving

Mildred Loving passed away on May 2. I make note of her passing as a continuation of our earlier exchange about gay marriage.

Mildred was a black woman who, in 1958, married a white man. Their home was in Virginia where interracial marriage was banned, so they were married in Washington, DC and then returned to Virginia to live.

In a statement Mrs. Loving made in 2007:

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. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed.

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."

Mr. and Mrs. Loving’s case wound its way to the Supreme Court and in 1967 the Court struck down Virginia’s scheme to preclude interracial marriage (citing both due process and equal protection violations under the 14th Amendment), saying: "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."

Hear, hear.

In her 2007 statement, made to mark the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Mrs. Loving reflected on her experience and applied it to the issue of gay marriage:

The majority believed ... what the [trial court] judge said, that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. 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.

Mr. and Mrs. Loving’s life story illustrates for me the answer to Scooter’s question as to why we must “rush pell-mell” into legalization of gay marriage. We each get one life. What consolation is it to gay people – good, decent people who have found someone "precious" to them and who want to make a family together, with the security, social legitimacy, and benefits that come with “marriage” -- that maybe, if the majority ever gets comfortable with it, we’ll let future generations of gay people get married, but not you?

H/t to Meteor Blades at Kos for Mrs. Loving's 2007 statement.