The 40th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia

It is the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the June 12, 1967 Supreme Court decision that outlawed discrimination by states in not allowing marriage between the races (blacks and whites). The Freedom to marry website is celebrating the 40th anniversary with a push to allow marriage between same sex people. Can we believe it is only 40 years since this decision was made. Some excerpts of the decision are stunning. The Lovings were convicted (actually plead guilty) to a law banning interracial marriage in Virginia. The trial judge in that decision said:

"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."

The state supreme court upheld the conviction citing a 1955 decision in Naim v. Naim, 197 Va. 80, 87 S. E. 2d 749, stating the reasons supporting the validity of these laws. "In Naim, the state court concluded that the State's legitimate purposes were "to preserve the racial integrity of its citizens," and to prevent "the corruption of blood," "a mongrel breed of citizens," and "the obliteration of racial pride..." The Supreme Court said the law is obviously an endorsement of white supremacy and the U.S. Supreme Court, the decision written by Justice Warren said:

"Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival. Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942). See also Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190(1888). To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

But, we can infringe upon same sex marriages? I am in no way comparing the racial discrimination blacks have experienced over 400 years of discrimination, violence and murder, but is this not the same or at least a similar argument afforded same sex people? Should this really be left up to the states?

Is not this allowance of this form of hatred letting things such as this to happen. An excerpt at the Daily Kos from the article if you do not have time says this: "Two young men in Jackson County Indiana said they were so freaked out when 'propositioned' by Aaron Hall on April 12th, that they proceeded to beat the 100 pound, 5'4 man for hours, using their fists, boots, dragging him down a staircase while his head slammed into each step, and then throwing him in a ditch and leaving. Aaron managed to crawl out of the ditch and out into a nearby field, where he died, alone and naked.

Are we complicit in allowing discrimination when violent episodes such as this happen?