Loving Day is a celebration of love and universal justice

When Richard and Mildred Loving awoke in the middle of the night, a few weeks after their June 1958 wedding, it wasn’t normal newlywed ardor. As NPR reported, there were policemen with flashlights in their bedroom. They’d come to arrest the couple. 

“They asked Richard who was that woman he was sleeping with? I say, I’m his wife, and the sheriff said, not here you’re not. And they said, come on, let’s go”. Mildred Loving recalled that night in the HBO documentary The Loving Story. 

The Loving’s had committed what the U.S State of Virginia called unlawful cohabitation. Their marriage was deemed illegal because Mildred was Black and Native American; and Richard was white. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court. And on June 12th, 1967, the couple won. 

Now, each year on this date, “Loving Day” celebrates the historic ruling in Loving v. Virginia, which declared unconstitutional a Virginia law prohibiting mixed-race marriage — and legalized interracial marriage in every state. 

“Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State.” 

Loving Day is the anniversary of this historic court decision for interracial marriage. Celebrated every year on June 12th, Loving Day is a global day of visibility, education, and community. 

People around the world observe LovingDay.org in meaningful ways. Everyone is welcome and it can be especially significant for interracial couples, multiracial families, people of mixed race heritage and those with similar lived experiences.