When fighting for marriage equality, one historical court case I personally reflected upon was Loving v. Virginia. Not all of us know about the Supreme Court case legalizing interracial marriage in the United States.
The case was brought by Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored". The Supreme Court's unanimous decision determined that this prohibition was unconstitutional, overruling Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.
The decision was followed by an increase in interracial marriages in the U.S., and is remembered annually on Loving Day, June 12. It has been the subject of three movies, as well as several songs. Beginning in 2013, it was cited as precedent in U.S. federal court decisions holding restrictions on same-sex marriage in the United States unconstitutional, including in the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. – wikipedia.com
We lived in the time of Obergefell v. Hodges. We are able to chat with Jim personally, get our copy of his book signed, and hear his story from him personally. Richard passed away 1975, Mildred in 2008. I wonder how they would feel knowing that their story was inspirational to our fight. Would they approve of the movie coming out this November?
Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, who fell in love and were married in 1958. The couple had grown up in Central Point, a small town in Virginia that was more integrated than surrounding areas in the American South. Yet it was the state of Virginia, where they were making their home and starting a family, that first jailed and then banished them. Richard and Mildred relocated with their children to the inner city of Washington, D.C. While relatives made them feel welcome there, the more urban environment did not feel like home to them. Ultimately, the pull of their roots in Virginia would spur Mildred to try to find a way back. – youtube.com
The film had its premiere in May at the Cannes Film Festival, earning positive reviews, and will be in theaters Nov. 4. It stars Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving and Ruth Negga as his wife, Mildred. – nytimes
This will definitely be a love story I will go see in the theatres. And a little F.Y.I, the movie rights to Jim Obergefell's story have already been sold and plans are in the works to make it happen sooner than later, much sooner that 60 years after Richard and Mildred exchanged vows.
Will you go see Loving?
