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Couples are celebrating 50 years since interracial marriage was legalized with #LovingDay

It's been 50 years since the landmark "Loving v. Virginia" interracial marriage case.

Sasha Lekach

on June 12, 2017

Couples are celebrating 50 years since interracial marriage was legalized with #LovingDay

Mildred and Richard Loving fought for their marriage. Credit: Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Couples and families are using the hashtag #LovingDay all over social media today to celebrate interracial relationships that would have been illegal in the U.S. before a landmark civil rights case 50 years ago.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967 that interracial couple Mildred Loving and Richard Loving's marriage was not a crime. The decision went all the way to the Supreme Court, which found that the state of Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws violated the 14th amendment and were racist.

This opened up interracial marriages in more than a dozen other states and allowed the Lovings to openly be a family. A movie about their story — titled Loving and starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton — came out in November 2016.

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Now, on the 50th anniversary of the decision, #LovingDay is trending on Twitter as a way to honor the historic decision and celebrate love.

Many are posting about their relationships with touching photos, memories, and stories of acceptance and love.

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Love wins, again and again.

Topics Social Good

Sasha Lekach

Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.