Happy Loving Day!

June 12, 1967, was a significant day in the United States. That's the day the Supreme Court decided in favor of Richard and Mildred Loving in the case brought against them by the state of Virginia.

Their "crime"? Living together in Virginia AFTER being married in Washington DC. Why was it a crime? Because they were an interracial couple, and that was illegal in the state of Virginia at the time. In fact, it was still illegal in 16 states in the union in 1967.

(Sidenote: Good lord! That's only two years before I was born. There were still states with anti-miscegenation laws on the books then?)

But on this day in 1967, the Supreme Court struck down the state laws against interracial marriage. And today, the 12th of June is designated Loving Day, in support of multicultural families, and to celebrate the couple whose struggle helped grant Americans the right to marry whomever they want, regardless of race or ethnicity.

We still have a ways to go, but it was a giant step forward, and I wanted to say thanks to the Lovings, who have to be the most appropriately-named defendants in a Supreme Court decision, ever.

(And in any case, a romantic like me couldn't pass up a chance to celebrate something called Loving Day.)