More Bad News for the Far Right: Interracial Marriage Rates Soar

In addition to being vitriolically anti-gay, the GOP base is also strongly racists - one might say even white supremacist - and anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic. Imagine the dismay that new figures on interracial marriage rates must be triggering within the shrinking tent of extremists. Indeed, 15% of all new marriages cross racial and ethnic lines - a trend that will only accelerate the younger generations' acceptance of diversity. It's yet another trend that makes me wonder what the GOP is thinking in almost exclusively courting racists and elements in society that hold only hate and contempt for those who differ from themselves. And what is surprising is that in the D.C. metro area, Virginia has the highest interracial marriage rate even as the GOP controlled Virginia General Assembly conducts a jihad against minorities of all stripes. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of marriages between blacks and whites, a new study by the Pew Research Center shows, barely four decades after state laws criminalizing interracial marriage were struck down by the Supreme Court. And one in five new married couples in the District crossed racial and ethnic lines.

The prevalence of intermarriage in and around the Washington area reflects demographic changes that are pushing interracial marriage rates to an all-time high in the United States while toppling historical taboos among younger people.

According to the Pew study, about 15 percent of new marriages in 2010 crossed racial or ethnic lines, double the rate from three decades ago. Intermarriages comprise 8 percent of all marriages now, up from just 3 percent in 1980. And most Americans tell pollsters they are untroubled at the prospect of intermarriage in their own family.

“In the past half century, intermarriage has evolved from being illegal, to being taboo, to being merely unusual,” said Paul Taylor, director of the Pew Research Center. “With each passing year, it becomes less unusual. . . . The face of the country is changing, and behaviors are changing with it.”

The share of whites who marry “out” of their race has more than doubled since 1980, to 9 percent. The percentage of blacks who marry non-blacks has more than tripled, to 17 percent. Asians and Hispanics have the highest rates of intermarriage, with more than a quarter of all Asian newlyweds marrying a non-Asian.

As intermarriage rates have grown, attitudes have changed dramatically. In a 1986 Roper Poll, two-thirds of the people said they could never imagine themselves marrying someone from a different race. In a 2009 Pew poll, just 6 percent of whites and 3 percent of blacks said they would not accept an interracial marriage in their family.

“Different racial and ethnic minorities are increasingly sharing the same social space, in their neighborhoods, their job settings and schools,” Lichter said. “It’s a reflection of declining inequality on a lot of fronts, including income and education.” But a postracial society remains a long way off, he added.

One can imagine the angst and horror this data creates at Family Research Council, the American Family Association and, of course, among the extremists at The Family Foundation here in Virginia.