Deaths: Mildred Loving - Plaintiff in Loving v. Virginia

Other than during its golden age of enlightenment and accomplishment during the days of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, et al, in the latter part of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, Virginia has all too often lead up the rear guard of enlightened and progressive states. Jim Crow laws, massive resistance to de-segregation and a ban on interracial marriage are examples of some of Virginia's less than noble contributions to history.

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Thus, it was with sadness that I learned of the death of Mildred Loving, one of the plaintiffs in Loving v. Virginia, wherein the U. S. Supreme Court struck down the laws banning interracial marriage. That was in 1967, a mere three years before my undergraduate class at the University of Virginia entered UVA as the first co-ed class. Unfortunately, the descendants of the same people who passed the laws struck down in 1967 continue their bigotry against equal marriage rights for all - most recently in their campaign against gay and lesbian citizens. Here are highlights from 365gay.com on Ms. Loving's death at age 68:

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(Richmond, Virginia) Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday. Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford.

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Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states. They had married in Washington in 1958, when she was 18. Returning to their Virginia hometown, they were arrested within weeks and convicted on charges of "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth," according to their indictments.

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After the Supreme Court ruled, the couple returned to Virginia, where they lived with their children Donald, Peggy and Sidney. Richard Loving died in 1975 in a car accident that also injured his wife. In a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, Loving said she wasn't trying to change history - she was just a girl who once fell in love with a boy. "It wasn't my doing," Loving said. "It was God's work." The Loving case was cited in the 2003 Massachusetts case that led to same-sex marriage in that state.