Mildred Loving, a black woman whose anger over being banished from Virginia for marrying a white man led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning state miscegenation laws, died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, VA of pneumonia. She was 68.

Mrs. Loving stopped giving interview and issued a statement in 2007 on the 40th anniversary of the announcement of the Supreme Court ruling, urging that gay men and lesbians be allowed to marry.

At the age of 17-year-old Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, a 23-year-old white construction worker, drove 90 miles north to marry in the District of Columbia.

At the time Mrs. Loving was pregnant with the first child.

The Lovings’ returned to Central Point, Va., between Richmond and Spotsylvania, to begin their new life together.

In the morning of July 11, 1958, the police 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 in a confused tone, “I'm his wife.”

Richard Loving pointed to the couple's marriage certificate 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 two people of different races was as illegal. At the time, Virginia was one of 16 states that barred marriages between races.

The two were booked and taken down town. Richard Loving spent a night in jail and Mildred Loving spent several more, obviously because she was black.

The couple pleaded guilty to violating the Virginia law, the Racial Integrity Act. The couples struck a deal and all charges were suspended on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return together or at the same time for 25 years.

A bigoted Judge Leon M. Bazile ruled against the couples and gave this statement:

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix,”

In 1967 the Supreme Court’s decision in the Loving case struck down miscegenation laws.

Alabama became the last state to do so, in 2000.

Mildred Loving published a book, “Virginia Hasn't Always Been for Lovers,” was published in 2004

Mr. Loving died in a car accident in 1975, and the Lovings’ son Donald died in 2000. In addition to her daughter, Peggy Fortune, who lives in Milford, VA., Mrs. Loving is survived by her son, Sidney, of Tappahannock, VA.; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

COMMENTARY:

I personally didn’t know Mrs. Loving but I’m sure she would have been proud to see that California has finally let Gays and Lesbians marry.  Mr. and Mrs. Loving’s courageous battle for marriage equality can be a premise for our fight as LGBT for marriage equality.  Mrs. Loving was also known to be extremely humble and didn’t consider herself a civil rights pioneer.  Mrs. Loving to me has been one of the driving forces for us in the LGBT community.  She deserves our respect and praise.  Thank you Mrs. Loving.