06/12/2007

Ban on Interracial Marriage Ended 40 Years Ago Today

In the interest of full disclosure, you may have noticed the Freedom to Marry ad in the right column of the site. This post makes note of the organization and what they are doing to draw attention to an important moment in civil rights being recognized today.

Forty years ago, on June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Loving v. Virginia, effectively ending a ban on interracial marriage that was still recognized in 16 states.

Freedom to Marry has been running a series of ads in The Politico and Roll Call to draw attention to the inequalities seen today by gays and lesbians with regard to marriage.

The ads feature photographs of Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao, Janet and Bill Cohen, Jim and Hong Le Webb, and Jeb and Columba Bush, four high-profile interracial couples who would not have been able to marry had the ban not been struck down.

It's an important moment to be recognized, as bigotry disguised as religious truth continues to be used today to deny rights to the nation's gay and lesbian citizens.

The following is a related three-minute ad produced by the National Black Justice Coalition:

Posted 2:15 PM EST by Andy in Discrimination, Gay Marriage, News | Permalink

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Comments

1. Wouldn't this be a different race if Mitt Romney stepped up and said "I think children should be raised by two parents of the same race"?

   Of course he won't. What most Republicans have forgotten (or claim to have never known) is that the religious right once believed that God was against race mixing.

   They went to that old dusty story about the tower of Babel, just like today, they use the story of Sodom and Gommorrah to justify why God hates fags.

   But this historic parallel has been quietly ignored.

   Posted by: mark m | Jun 12, 2007 2:27:07 PM

   
   

2. Mitt believes children should be raised by 6 or 8 parents of the same race, one man and however many wives he can get away with.

   Posted by: 24play | Jun 12, 2007 2:37:02 PM

   
   

3. Inter-gender marriage, now that's some sick stuff. Men marrying women, women marrying men, soon we'll have men marrying dogs and dogs marrying telephone poles!

   Posted by: Perceive | Jun 12, 2007 3:28:36 PM

   
   

4. lovingday.org has a much better map that actually changes the colors with the years, going back to the 18th century marriage bans.

   This is soooo ironic because Mitch McConnell would not even be allowed to marry the Secretary of Labor in his home state of Kentucky if this was 1967! McConnell is anti-gay Senate Minority Leader, has a 0% F- record on all GLBT issues!

   Posted by: juliana | Jun 12, 2007 4:02:53 PM

   
   

5. but it's not 16 states, it was 17... http://www.lovingday.org/map.htm , all of the South...

   Posted by: juliana | Jun 12, 2007 4:04:25 PM

   
   

6. Right ON, fight the good fight!

   Posted by: Jeffrey | Jun 12, 2007 4:33:22 PM

   
   

7. Actually it was 16. Maryland's was repealed in 1967 before the Loving ruling was handed down, but after the Supreme Court announced it was hearing the Loving case.

   Posted by: Craig | Jun 12, 2007 5:31:36 PM

   
   

8. None of those homophobes pictured above will ever get it. They are rich, white, heterosexual white men. They don't understand what it is to be different...not even when they are married to women of color. They can't consider for a moment that a man who doesn't want to put his cock in a vagina might deserve the same rights as every other American. I'll be glad when time takes care of all of them and they are nothing more than dinner for the worms.

   Posted by: peterparker | Jun 12, 2007 5:54:54 PM

   
   

9. it should be noted, in the same line that peterparker is heading, that all four of these couples are women of colour married to rich white dudes. its obviously still too 'edgy' to depict their WASP women with men of colour.

   Posted by: dave | Jun 12, 2007 7:53:17 PM

   
   

10. If you would like to meet white, black, yellow people or seek interracial friends, love

    and more, please visit:
    http://interracial-dating.bravehost.com/

    Posted by: ishara | Jul 26, 2007 11:37:29 PM

    
    

11. Interracial online personals for interracial relationships. This is an exclusive online interracial community offering online personals for interracial singles or those seeking interracial relationships. Singles can discuss multiracial relationships, cultural exchanges, religion, professional development, leisure activities, life and more.

    http://interracialpersonals.awardspace.com/

    Posted by: mamie | Aug 8, 2007 9:36:29 AM

    
    

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