Comments on: RIP Mildred Loving

RIP Mildred Loving

Morrigan — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:42:08 -0800

Mildred Loving of Loving v. Virginia (1967) has passed away.

By: tachikaze

tachikaze — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:44:39 -0800

☯

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:46:31 -0800

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:46:39 -0800

And remember, all: Loving Day's on June 12th! Let's all get out there and miscegenate!

By: empath

empath — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:52:09 -0800

Is there another world like eponysterical, except that it means 'touching' and not 'funny'?

By: rtha

rtha — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:53:13 -0800

Shit. My dad was a travel agent in the early 1960s, and part of his job was to go around and promote travel to Hawaii. My dad was Hawaiian (and dark-skinned), and my mom was not, and they decided that it was too risky for a brown man and a white woman to travel together when he had to travel in the South. On those trips, he went alone. There is irony, or something, in the fact that their daughter (me) is a lesbian, whose partner is a native Virginian - her parents still live there. I quake a little with fear when we travel there, because Virginia says that all of the arrangements we've made - domestic partnership recognized in our home state of California, marriage recognized in Canada, various legal things giving each other rights - count for nothing if one of us gets hurt or hospitalized in Virginia. Whose marketing motto is "Virginia is for Lovers." So thank you, Mildred, and Richard. We've got more work to do, and we're going to keep doing it.

By: afflatus

afflatus — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:54:05 -0800

I'm so glad that there are people like Mildred Loving out there to fight for rights and for love. What saddens me is that 40 years later, our society is still having this same argument over gay marriage. Why do we keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again? So in Mrs Loving's honor, everyone go out there and love the person of your choice and keep on working for the day when government gets the hell out of our bedroom.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:59:57 -0800

Whose marketing motto is "Virginia is for Lovers." I thought it was "Virginia is for Snipers".

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:00:02 -0800

Is there another world like eponysterical, except that it means 'touching' and not 'funny'? posted by empath at 1:52 PM on May 5 [+] [!] Eponystouching? (e-ponys touching?)

By: dismas

dismas — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:02:58 -0800

By: CheeseDigestsAll

CheeseDigestsAll — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:03:13 -0800

I listened to the audio arguments in the case a couple of years back. The arguments against interracial marriage then sound remarkably like the arguments against gay marriage today, and just as bogus.

By: notjustfoxybrown

notjustfoxybrown — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:04:47 -0800

So in Mrs Loving's honor, everyone go out there and love the person of your choice and keep on working for the day when government gets the hell out of our bedroom. Here, here!

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:04:53 -0800

I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. God bless her. .

By: Stynxno

Stynxno — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:05:35 -0800

By: Avenger

Avenger — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:06:45 -0800

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:07:05 -0800

This ruling made it possible for my wife's parents to get married, and, I suppose, for me to marry her. In an odd twist, though, we chose not to get married in DC, where the Lovings were married and where we live, because it was just too much damned trouble (for non-racist reasons). Instead, we drove across the river to, you guessed it, Virginia, where the process isn't mired in red tape. Sometimes it's easy to forget how much times have changed.

By: brujita

brujita — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:10:53 -0800

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:10:57 -0800

As a native Virginian who can't get married in her home state, here's to change, and to someday looking back with the same level of astonishment that there were ever such laws making it illegal for people to get married. .

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:20:17 -0800

I love how all the 'protect marriage' laws are about preventing people from getting married, and not a single one makes it easier to get a divorce. .

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:20:47 -0800

...and by 'easier' I mean 'more difficult.'

By: EarBucket

EarBucket — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:31:59 -0800

I've been reading Stephen B. Oates' excellent Lincoln biography With Malice Toward None lately. I got to the Lincoln-Douglas debates yesterday and was really surprised. They're always held up in elementary school history class as a shining example of rhetoric and vigorous debate, but Douglas reads like a nineteenth century Rick Santorum. He raises the terrifying possibility that if the slaves were freed, next thing you knew your neighbors would be marrying them. Plus ca change.

By: scody

scody — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:32:06 -0800

Here's to Mildred Loving and all those who have the courage to stand up to the bigots to be with the person they love.

By: optovox

optovox — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:34:51 -0800

Thanks, Mildred, from a mixed-race couple. God bless you.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:39:36 -0800

Thanks Mildred! Many of my friends and coworkers would not be happily married now if it weren't for your bravery. mullingitover : I love how all the 'protect marriage' laws are about preventing people from getting married, and not a single one makes it more difficult to get a divorce. I've often wondered about that myself. It's one of those hypocrisies, where you have someone loudly advocating against gay or interracial marriage or other thing which might diminish the eternal bond shared in the eyes of God between two people (or whatever), and you find out the person has been divorced three or four times. You just desperately want to ask: "So, when you say, 'protecting the sanctity of marriage' you mean, from people like you, right?" Of course, that would require the press to actually be aggressive in their pursuit of truth. Not just big headlines.

By: granted

granted — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:49:27 -0800

♥

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:50:33 -0800

I got to the Lincoln-Douglas debates yesterday and was really surprised. They're always held up in elementary school history class as a shining example of rhetoric and vigorous debate, but Douglas reads like a nineteenth century Rick Santorum. Yeah, Douglas is totally disengenous in the debates. It was a shock when I read them too. Anyway, for Ms. Loving, .

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:51:45 -0800

It is thanks to Loving v Virginia that my wife and I were able to marry. Thanks Mildred. .

By: desuetude

desuetude — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:52:28 -0800

. Astonishingly, a lot of people aren't even aware of the word "miscegenation" or that interracial marriage was a crime. We've come a long way and have a long way to go.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:53:41 -0800

They've tried to make it harder for folks to get divorced. Weirdly enough, people don't seem to be flocking to this option. Go figure. And much love, Mildred.

By: granted

granted — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:55:02 -0800

I've often wondered about that myself. It's one of those hypocrisies, where you have someone loudly advocating against gay or interracial marriage or other thing which might diminish the eternal bond shared in the eyes of God between two people (or whatever), and you find out the person has been divorced three or four times. Especially because, unlike with homosexuality, Jesus actually cared enough about divorce to make his opinion known.

By: lord_wolf

lord_wolf — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:09:56 -0800

someday looking back with the same level of astonishment that there were ever such laws making it illegal for people to get married. Sorry, I couldn't wait: I'm looking right now at such laws with utter bewilderment. RIP Mrs. Loving. We've still got a lot of fighting left to do, but thank you so much for your and your husband's bravery.

By: Inspector.Gadget

Inspector.Gadget — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:16:45 -0800

.. <-

By: Inspector.Gadget

Inspector.Gadget — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:16:58 -0800

Damnit, didn't know metafilter stripped font color tags.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:18:01 -0800

We've still got a lot of fighting left to do, but thank you so much for your and your husband's bravery. Indeed. We cannot rest until our right to polygamous marriage is recognized and respected.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:20:14 -0800

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:26:36 -0800

Sadly, I only know about her from the movie, Mr. and Mrs. Loving.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:37:48 -0800

We cannot rest until our right to polygamous marriage is recognized and respected. And dogs and kleptomaniacs! Santorum über alles!

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:40:09 -0800

So to speak...

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:52:03 -0800

But I don't want Santorum all over everything. What amazed me the most was finding out how recent this case was. I had a vague idea that miscegenation had used to be illegal, but I filed it away as something that happened a long time ago. Thanks for the post.

By: CitizenD

CitizenD — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:57:49 -0800

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:17:16 -0800

Loving v. Virginia is probably one of the most important U.S. civil rights cases that nobody has ever heard about. What amazes me most of all is that two states, Maryland and Virginia, had anti-miscegenation laws on the books dating from the 1690s. Thanks to the Lovings, my wife and I can happly miscegenate here in Maryland. I can only hope that an equivalent case for gays and lesbians will come soon.

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:37:05 -0800

By: zekinskia

zekinskia — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:54:40 -0800

Best. Casename. Evarrrr.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:47:26 -0800

By: liza

liza — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:07:19 -0800

i wouldn't be here for her and neither would my kids. two generations of miscegenated love. melanin, not optional. thanks ms. loving and say hi to your guy for me.

By: Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America

Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:21:02 -0800

It really does seem like the logic of Loving should be applicable to laws forbidding same-sex marriage. The court was quite clear that anti-miscegenation laws that equally burden the rights of blacks and whites still violate equal protection. The obvious analogy is that even though laws allowing only opposite-sex marriage equally burden men and women, this apparently shouldn't be seen as avoiding the equal protection problem. Gender and racial classifications are subject to different levels of scrutiny, and this could result in differing outcomes, but the underlying argument seems sound. Of course, we'd know the answer, except Kennedy punted on the equal protection analysis in Lawrence.

By: jenkinsEar

jenkinsEar — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:51:19 -0800

The wikipedia article on the etymology and history of miscegenation is pretty darn interesting as well:

The word was coined in an anonymous propaganda pamphlet printed in New York City in December 1863, entitled Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro. The pamphlet purported to be in favor of promoting the intermarriage of whites and blacks until they were indistinguishably mixed, claiming this was the goal of the Republican Party. The pamphlet was revealed to be a hoax written by Democrats David Goodman Croly, managing editor of the New York World, a Democratic Party paper, and George Wakeman, a World reporter. (New York City at the time was a place where people often criticized the ongoing American Civil War, to the point of rioting against that war in a massive brawl that had racial overtones.)

It wasn't just a southern thing.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:18:33 -0800

♥

By: punchdrunkhistory

punchdrunkhistory — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:20:05 -0800

I've never seen a couple with a more apt surname. RIP.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:50:39 -0800

By: eckeric

eckeric — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:04:47 -0800

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:06:27 -0800

I was impressed with this and the marriage of Frederick Douglas.