Loving Day

For the novel, see Loving Day (novel).

For the Brazilian holiday with a similar name also celebrated on June 12, see Dia dos Namorados.

Loving Day is an annual celebration held on June 12, the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states.^[1][2][3] In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were U.S. state laws banning mixed-race marriages. The Warren Court ruled unanimously in 1967 that these state laws were unconstitutional.^[4][5] Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the court majority opinion that "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State."^[4]

Loving Day
Type	Secular, unofficial
Significance	Anniversary of Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia
Date	June 12

Loving Day is not an official national or state holiday in the United States, despite attempts to make it so.^[6][7] A writer for Time magazine in 2010 claimed that Loving Day was "the biggest multiracial celebration in the United States."^[5]

According to the Pew Research Center, "In 2019, 11% of all married U.S. adults had a spouse who was a different race or ethnicity from them, up from 3% in 1967. Among newlyweds in 2019, roughly one-in-five (19%) were intermarried."^[8]

History

According to a 2010 article in Time magazine:^[5]

The idea for Loving Day came from one person, Ken Tanabe. In 2004, while a student at Parsons the New School for Design, Tanabe created Loving Day as part of his senior thesis. Growing up, he had never heard of the Lovings, and as a person of mixed-race heritage, he wanted that to change. He created a website to educate people about the history of mixed-race marriages and encouraged people to host their own Loving Day gatherings to create an annual tradition for the mixed-race community.

According to the official Loving Day website, the event was recognized by a resolution of the United States House of Representatives in 2007, by a proclamation of the Governor of Virginia in 2015, and by a resolution of the California State Assembly in 2017.^[9] In 2024, the website listed 16 privately hosted events to mark the day, 11 in U.S. cities and towns, and five in European cities.^[10]

Notable observances

Many organizations sponsor annual parties across the country. To celebrate the holiday, people are encouraged to hold parties in which the case and its modern-day legacy are discussed, in smaller settings such as living rooms, backyards, etc., as well as in larger gatherings.

United States

• The annual flagship Loving Day Celebration in New York City was featured in the BBC documentary series Our World in 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the Loving decision.^[11] Coverage of the annual celebration has also been featured in Time Magazine,^[12] on the Voice of America,^[13] National Public Radio,^[14] The Washington Post,^[15] and on PBS NewsHour.^[16]
• In 2010. New York Times best-selling author Heidi W. Durrow^[17][18] co-organized a celebration of Loving Day in Los Angeles with Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, during the annual Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival.^[19][20]
• Several cities and municipalities have issued proclamations officially recognizing Loving Day as a holiday, including Washington, D.C., and Caroline County, Virginia,^[21] where the Lovings hailed from.^[22]

Other countries

Since 2013,^[23] Loving Day has been celebrated with an annual symposium at De Balie theater in Amsterdam, organized by the Stichting Loving Day foundation.^[24]

In popular culture

• A documentary, The Loving Story,^[25][26] which features rare contemporaneous photographs of the couple and details the history of the case and references Loving Day, premiered on HBO on Valentine's Day 2012.^{[27][28][29][30]}
• Loving, a 2016 film starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as Mildred and Richard Loving, directed by Jeff Nichols. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for Edgerton and Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Negga.^[31]
• Loving v. Virginia, an opera, is scheduled to be presented in 2025 by the Virginia Opera.^[32]

See also

• Mixed Race Day