A month from now the country will (or at least should) be celebrating a little known holiday called “Loving Day” on June 12th.  Now, if you’ve never heard of Loving Day before … shame on you! Because if you’re an interracial dater or in any kind of interracial relationship you wouldn’t have that opportunity if it weren’t for Richard and Mildred Loving!  It’s important to know the history that allows people to enjoy interracial love and the freedom on marry interracially.  This white man/black woman couple was arrested for breaking Virginia’s 1924 Racial Integrity Act shortly after returning back to their home state of Virginia from Washington D.C. where they had to get married in secret. The Lovings had to plea bargain in order to avoid prison which meant being banished from their beloved state of Virginia – the place where they’d lived their whole lives.

They lived in exile, separated from their family and friends, for years before deciding to finally stand up for their rights. Believing that Virginia’s law was unconstitutional, the Lovings took their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court and on June 12, 1967 the ban on interracial marriage was ended not just in Virginia but across the country.  This landmark Supreme Court decision forever changed America, clearing a path for much of the diversity we enjoy as a nation today.  All change requires a catalyst and the Lovings were brave enough to provide the spark that lit a fire in courtrooms and brought down the bans that kept people from being together for ignorant reasons.

In order to commemorate the Lovings and their perseverance, many have called for the creation of an official U.S. government-recognized holiday called “Loving Day” to be celebrated annually on June 12th. We agree wholeheartedly with this cause and decided to create a petition to demonstrate our support. If you’d like to see a future Loving Day as well, you can view and sign our petition at Change.org.  Our company is based out of Virginia so the story of the Lovings is really near and dear to our hearts.

Here we’re not the only ones who think it’s important to recognize Loving Day though.  As a matter of fact, there’s even an organization called LovingDay.org that’s focused on celebrating the beauty of interracial marriage and, especially, trying to elevate the need to make Loving Day a national-level event.  Every year they sponsor Loving Day celebrations across the country to honor the courageous journey of Richard and Mildred Loving and the diversity of interracial dating, which was enabled by the Lovings and their fight.  Consider supporting their cause of building multicultural communities by attending one of the Loving Day events in major cities like New York or Washington D.C.

Even if you don’t attend a major event on June 12th we strongly suggest doing something with your mate to express your appreciation for the Lovings that day because if you date interracially or if you’re in an interracial marriage it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the those awesome trailblazers.  Let’s keep their memory forever embroidered into the fabric of America.

Like Stevie sang … “Ebony and Ivory” … you know the rest.

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