A Tribute to Love and Loving

I know a lot of people have written already about the California Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold the rights of gay people to get married. I expect that there's very little more to be said on the subject that is original or interesting. As my friend N put it after I told her about the decision, "Well, it's about time."

I also know that many people have linked this case with the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down all of those laws that banned interracial marriage. It's not that much of a stretch to see a link between these two cases.

Mildred and Richard Loving had gotten married in Washington, D.C., but when they returned home to Virginia, they were arrested for violating the maliciously-named Racial Integrity Act. They were forced to leave their home state as a result of the case. However, through the assistance of U.S. Department of Justice, they found an attorney with the ACLU (so many heroes throughout history have worked for the ACLU) and fought for their marriage to be accepted on an equal level as those of same-race couples.

They finally won their case, on a 9-0 decision, in 1967. Earl Warren, who was then the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, stated in the opinion, "To deny this fundamental freedom [to marry] on so unsupportable a basis as racial classification embodied in these statutes...is surely to deprive all the state's citizens of liberty without due process of law."

Warren's words echo throughout the decision rendered last week by the California Supreme Court. I think many of the plaintiffs in the California case would also share Mildred Loving's sentiment after she was finally recognized as Richard Loving's true spouse: "I feel free now."

Mildred Loving may never have thought of herself as a pioneer or an activist, but she was both. It is often those people who quietly refuse to allow others to determine how one's life should be lived who make the most difference. Thankfully, we live in a country where people like Mildred and Richard Loving and all of those brave gay and lesbian couples can take a stand, can be heard, and can be victorious.

I think Mildred Loving summed it up best: "I think marrying who you want is a right no man should have anything to do with."