"Loving v. Virginia (1967)". Ironically they began courting when she was 11 & he was 17 (in VA THAT was ok--WTF?)
The Lovings stood for two principles:
First, all citizens have the fundamental right to marry...
Secondly, that all people should be treated equally...
THE LGBT community embraces the Lovings courage and resolve. Thy didn't ask to be heroes but, in my opinion, they personify the definition .
"Obama’s declaration of the importance of same sex marriage marks a decisive turn in the new debate on civil rights..."
"By their own widely reported accounts, Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, were in bed in their modest house in Central Point in the early morning of July 11, 1958, five weeks after their wedding, when the county sheriff and two deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom and shined flashlights in their eyes. A threatening voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping
with?”
Mrs. Loving answered, “I’m his wife.”
Mr. Loving pointed to the couple’s marriage certificate hung on the bedroom wall. The sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.”
The certificate was from Washington, D.C., and under Virginia law, a marriage between people of different races performed outside Virginia was as invalid as one done in Virginia. At the time, it was one of 24 states that barred marriages between races.
After Mr. Loving spent a night in jail and his wife several more, the couple pleaded guilty to violating the Virginia law, the Racial Integrity Act. Under a plea bargain, their one-year prison sentences were suspended on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return together or at the same time for 25 years...
"They paid court fees of $36.29 each, moved to Washington and had three children. They returned home occasionally, never together. But times were tough financially, and the Lovings missed family, friends and their easy country lifestyle in the rolling Virginia hills.."
No comments:
Post a Comment