Loving Day by Mat Johnson
Eventually, their case was heard by the Supreme Court, who ruled unanimously in the Lovings’ favor. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not to marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State.”
The ruling made it illegal for states to enforce laws against interracial marriage. Despite that, anti-miscegenation laws remained in the books in South Carolina until 1998 and Alabama in 2000. Many people today draw parallels between Loving v. Virginia and the upcoming decision by the Supreme Court on marriage equality.
Loving Day is now an unofficial holiday and is observed nationwide. One group of volunteers, The Loving Day Project, encourages celebrations, plans events, and provides resources in an effort to make the holiday an annual tradition.
The Loving Day Flagship Celebration will be held this year in New York City, home of prominent interracial couple Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray. In addition to the Johnson novel, a film based on the 1967 case titled simply Loving is in production. Directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud), the movie is slated for a 2016 release.
Just as Loving Day the novel is a celebration of opposites coupled by love, Loving Day the holiday is the celebration of an important step in the civil rights movement—a day when love finally found itself protected by law. Wherever you are and however you may celebrate, we wish you all a Happy Loving Day!
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