A LOVING CHOICE

 June 12th came and went yesterday…I imagine to most people it was just another date.

But like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays it’s a day we should all celebrate.

This day’s history began in Virginia with Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving who fell in love and thought it would be great to marry and spend their life together…but this was 1958.

Back then it was against the law in Virginia for them to marry…Yes, Virginia law said they didn’t have the right…because Mildred…well she was black…and Richard…he was white.

So they got married in Washington D.C…you see…it was legal over there…but when they returned to Virginia they were arrested…and knowing it wasn’t fair…

they pleaded their case to a judge in Virginia…alas…to no avail…the judge found them guilty and sentenced them to spend the next three years in jail.

But the judge did give them a choice…which wan’t as just as it appears…they could serve their three years in jail…or leave Virginia for 25 years.

Given the choice of imprisonment or banishment it wasn’t hard to see why Mildred and Richard decided to stay married…and moved to Washington D. C.

Although they were legally married in Washington D. C…legally husband and wife…they missed their families, faced discrimination and wanted a better life.

So Mildred wrote a letter explaining their predicament…their particular point of view…and sent it off to Bobby Kennedy (our Attorney General) who gave it to the ACLU.

The ACLU decided to take up the Loving’s cause and lend the Loving’s their voice…for they believed, as many still do, who we marry and where we live should be every American’s choice.

After a nine year struggle through the courts Mildred and Richard finally had a victory to savor when on June 12, 1967 every Supreme Court Justice decided in their favor.

Which is why June 12th every year I find it appropriate to say…with Mildred and Richard in my heart…Happy Loving Day.

Happy Loving Day…it has such a nice ring to it…let me say it again…Happy Loving Day…the day our Supreme Court decided all Americans can be married…

unless…of course…you were gay.

That day would come on June 26th…it would have been nice if there were only two weeks in between…but the Supreme Court didn’t make that decision…until 2015!

In light of recent decisions…it is more important than ever we celebrate every day as Loving Day…and ensure that this Supreme Court doesn’t take these choices away.