Those of us eagerly waiting for the day when same-sex marriage is finally legalized across the land owe a debt of gratitude to Mildred Loving, whose 1967 case (Loving v. Virginia) resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision that broke down a major social and legal barrier - interracial marriage.
Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.Last year was the 40th anniversary of the landmark ruling. Mrs. Loving said this:Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.
…Richard Loving died in 1975 in a car accident that also injured his wife.
In a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, Loving said she wasn’t trying to change history — she was just a girl who once fell in love with a boy.
“It wasn’t my doing,” Loving said. “It was God’s work.”
“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.Here is her full statement, via Freedom To Marry..…Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, 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.
…I am proud that Richard’s and my name are 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.”
19 Responses to “Mildred Loving passes away”
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Aw, damn. Rest in peace, Ms. Loving.
There’s gonna be a Senate vote on an anti-marriage amendment here in Pennsylvania tomorrow. We really haven’t come very far after all.
“Loving v. Virginia.”
You just can’t make up a name like that.
What a beautiful statement. My eyes are a bit wet now. . .
I was gobsmacked to find out that had she not challenged that ridiculous anti-miscigination law in Virginia that is Not for Lovers, the Lovings would have had to stay out of their native state UNTIL 1983!!!!!! Yep, 25 years in exile to avoid a jail term for doing what they had every right to do!
RIP Mildred Jeter Loving … you done good in this life, and I hope that you get the afterlife that you hoped for wherever you are.
It took a lot of guts for the Lovings to do what they did. It’s just too bad there are so many alive now who don’t seem to have learned a damn thing from their example…
Thanks for the obit, Pam.
What a woman. What a life. We were lucky to have her.
it’s kind of amazing that this was so recent, all things considered. Gives me hope that same sex marriage will be normalized rapidly, too.
oh man, that quote from her, i got goosebumps and my eyes went all misty. what a beautiful human being, may she rest in peace.
When Professor and Mother Avenger eloped to Reno, NV to get married, the clerk asked both of them what their nationalities were. When MA mentioned that she was part-Chinese, the clerk refused to issue the license, as NV had laws against “Orientals” and Caucasians marrying each other.
PA and MA then went to Carson City, and when asked again, MA simply answered “American”, and thus they got married.
It was Harry Bridges who got that particular law overturned:
MA and PA got married 2 years before that.
Wow. And thanks.
You know, the fact that one of the couples litigating was Loving and the other one Bridges seems nearly…too good to be true.
As much as I am ashamed of my country, sometimes it helps to remember that beautiful people like Mildred Loving are part of our national character, too. People who have the instinct to insist on their equality, driven by the simple assumption that folks just gotta live in freedom.
“it’s kind of amazing that this was so recent, all things considered.”
i thought the same. i know enough of history, but i didnt know this. this should be in every kid’s history book. ‘loving vs. virgina’…perfect. and a better legacy to leave behind than that, i cant think of.
“As much as I am ashamed of my country, sometimes it helps to remember that beautiful people like Mildred Loving are part of our national character, too. People who have the instinct to insist on their equality, driven by the simple assumption that folks just gotta live in freedom. ”
amen.
Only 68 years old…
i wish they had a better picture up, though.
mr loving looks like ralphie cifaretto from the Sopranos.
Thanks for linking to that, Amanda. I had never read that statement by her before.
She wrote: We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what marriage is?
I want to share this statement of hers - in particular, that statement and that question - with every anti-marriage creep who redefines marriage in their homophobic tiny minds, not as “a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and the legal commitment, called marriage, to match” but as “one man, one woman” - not by commitment, but by fertility.
I wonder what the marriages of these people are like - who think marriage is about being interfertile, not about love and commitment and shared lives?
I wonder if wingnuts look at the aftermath of Loving and how interracial relationships went from illegal to mundane in a generation, and think about how a similar court decision for same-sex couples could create the same precedent. I suspect so.
I wonder what the marriages of these people are like - who think marriage is about being interfertile, not about love and commitment and shared lives?
given that the divorce rate is significantly higher in “Bible Belt” states where this notion is king…i think we have a pretty good idea.
I wonder if wingnuts look at the aftermath of Loving and how interracial relationships went from illegal to mundane in a generation, and think about how a similar court decision for same-sex couples could create the same precedent. I suspect so.
That’s the way the civil union bill appears to be working here. I just wish we’d bite the bullet and call it what it is - a marriage.