Interracial Marriage Bans vs. Bans on Marriage Between Same-Sex Couples
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Interracial Marriage Bans vs. Bans on
Marriage Between Same-Sex Couples
"I believe this is a civil rights issue . . . My aunt, married a white man in the 1950s when their marriage was illegal in half the states of this country. Indeed, my uncle, had he taken his wife across the wrong state line, would have been guilty of a criminal violation. It seems to me that if people want to marry a person of a different race that's no different than somebody wanting to marry someone of the same sex." (Democratic Presidential Candidate Carol Moseley Braun, Democratic Debate, Des Moines, IA, 11/24/03)
In 1948, the California State Supreme Court struck down its interracial marriage ban. At that time, the number of people who opposed marriage for interracial couples was alarmingly high. In fact, if we compare polling attitudes, we see that far more people opposed interracial marriage in 1948, and for decades to follow, than the number of people who opposed marriage equality for same-sex couples in 2003 (when the Massachusetts Supreme Court issued its ruling holding that excluding same-sex couples from the right to marry violates the Massachusetts Constitution).
The parallels between laws against interracial marriage and laws against marriage for same-sex couples are great.
Public opinion was against Black Americans' right to marry the person of our choice if our spouse's race was different than our own, and many states changed their constitution to protest the 1948 California ruling.
Thankfully, all attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban interracial marriage failed.
In 1911 Rep. Seaborn Roddenberry of Georgia introduced a U.S. constitutional amendment to ban interracial marriage. In his appeal to congress, Roddenberry stated that:
"Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy."
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court finally struck down all of the interracial marriage bans still on the books in Loving v. Virginia. The Lovings were a Virginia couple that married in Washington, D.C. When then returned to Virginia, where their marriage was illegal, they were arrested, convicted. and sentenced to a year in jail. The trial judge suspended the sentence for a period of 25 years on the condition that the Lovings leave the State and not return for 25 years.
When sentencing them, the Virginia judge stated that:
"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."
Many people invoke "God's plan" when advocating for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples.
No matter what we feel about marriage for same-sex couples, is it okay to change a constitution to tell gays and lesbians that the equal protection clause in our Constitution applies to everyone but them?
"America was founded on the concept of separation of church and state, with the guarantee that religious freedom will be respected and the state will treat all people equally in the eyes of the law. This bill puts that fundamental right into practice – allowing loving, committed same-sex couples who want to devote their lives to one another, raise families, and protect themselves and their children the same rights and responsibilities as different-sex couples with the same goals and dreams." (Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), discussing his bill, AB 849, that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry in California) (AB 849 was passed by the California Legislature but was later vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger)
