"The Law Should Allow a Person to Marry Anyone He Wants."

[Cross posted from Bitch Ph.D. Big up, Tedra.]

Mildred Loving died [Monday] at the age of 68. Here is a copy of a statement she made on the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, last June.

A few thoughts on the occasion: first, obviously the freedom to marry is still contested for a lot of people. Second, it’s really impressive to me that they stayed married until Richard’s death, especially given the incredible pressure they must have dealt with as a mixed-race couple. And third, wow:

Mildred Jeter was 11 when she and 17-year-old Richard began courting.

I confess, I find that startling and hard to swallow.

Guess Mildred and Richard are still challenging our preconceptions from beyond the grave. Good for them.

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.

Latest posts by G.D. (see all)

  • quadmoniker

    That age difference, even her really young age, wasn’t all that crazy then, especially for a rural area. Even now, it’s not entirely uncommon for a young teenager, 12, 13, 14, to be involved with an older teenage boy, and for that couple to marry a few years later. It’s happened enough times in my hometown that I can’t count, thought it’s much less acceptable now. (I had a friend who married a 24-year-old when she was 15. They had to leave Arkansas to do it because she was too young, even for Arkansas. Her dad was a Church of Christ (not the same as UCC) minister, and performed the ceremony.)

    That actually is what irks me most about some of my fellow Arkansans’ objections to allowing same-sex marriage. So, an adult man can marry a young teenager despite the fact that having sex with her is technically a crime, but two consenting adults can’t get married?

    Either way, their quotes in the AP story were really sweet.

  • I’m going to need a LOT more information on this whole situation before I can comment either way.

  • Steve

    She didn’t become pregnant until she was 17 though..then they got married.

  • universeexpanding

    I’m with quad on the issue of their ages. My parents are both from rural agricultural areas here. My father is just over 10 years older than my mother. They married at 19 and 30, but he had known her since she was 14, when they were both teaching in the same primary school. Their actual courtship started when she was 15.

    I even have similar annoyances with the peculiar morality of the country where I live. Homosexual sex is on the books here as illegal and gay men especially are almost always assumed to be predators and pedophiles. Age of consent here is 15, but pregnancies among underage girls is a fairly regular occurrence. In the past year there has been a disturbing jump in the number of pregnant 13 year olds. To be sure, some of the fathers are older teenagers but usually these girls are engaged in relationships with men 10, 15 or even 20 years older than them. In my mind *that’s* predatory and people condone it while vilifying homosexuals. I’ve given up even trying to explain the concept of “what two consenting adults wants to do in bed is their business” here. People just quote bible verses at me. =/

  • Tasha

    universeexpanding would you mind saying where here is? I’m curious.

    this is interesing I believe G.D. had a post on the problem with how predatory laws are being used against peopel i still consider adolescents themselves 17, 18, 19 year olds. This is what it reminded me of when you say people quote bible verses at you when you challenge them on consenting homosexual adults. It’s frustrating when people warp laws and abuse their religion to suit their purposes.

  • universeexpanding

    Tasha: “Here” is St. Vincent and the Grenadines, southern Caribbean right near Barbados.

  • Hi there! {waves}

    I used to think that this love story was so heart-warming…until you tossed in the detail that he was dating her when she was 11…that puts the brakes on my warm-fuzzy effusive compliments about the couple…

    I wrote a post last week, “LOST ABSOLUTION: WHITE MEN AND THEIR HORRID HISTORY WITH BLACK WOMEN” and I didn’t mention this couple because their love story was just so pure and idyllic…

    I feel a bit differently now that I realize she was a little girl when this white man set his eyes on her…why is it so endearing for this white man to do that but R. Kelly is a pedophile and a trainwreck?

    Lisa
    http://blackwomenblowthetrumpet.blogspot.com

  • Big Word

    You cannot compare common courtship practices of a couples generation with R Kelly peeing on a 14 year old.