Please pardon the outright corniness of this next blog entry.
New York never had an official ban on interracial / intercultural marriages. For far too long, plenty of other states did until the Supreme Court knocked them out in the 1967 Loving v. Virgina case. By 1970, the Census Bureau statistics suggest about 300,000 interracial marriages existed; that number jumped to just over one million in 2000. Considering that about fifty-five million of households are headed by a married couple (2006), that million number is rather shabby. Indeed, remember that justice of the peace (not NY!) a year or so ago who refused to marry an interracial couple? Yikes. Of course, all these are rough, if educated, numbers. Still, here is a bit of trivia: while teaching a course on marriage at Hofstra a mere year ago, many of my students indicated that their parents, especially fathers, would not approve of them marrying a person outside their race. Tragic or pathetic? Both.
As a white woman happily married to an Afro-Latino with family support, I cannot imagine those who face familial consternation when it comes to such an intimate and joyous decision.
I’ve included some black and white photos from a couple I married a few weeks ago to honor their now joint heritages.
Wedding Officiant in NYC and the Hudson Valley 