elections and supreme court decisions.

Just a reminder that for folks in the US, voter registration deadlines are coming up. Indiana is October 6th.

I was accepted as a voting rights monitor for Indiana (they wanted to review my resume and everything!) so I'm pretty psyched.

Also, there was a meme going around talking about Supreme Court cases. In an interview with Katie Couric not only could Sarah Palin not name a single newspaper or magazine that she reads, the only Supreme Court case she could name was Roe v. Wade.

So, my favorite Supreme Court case: Loving v. Virgina. I'll be honest and say that the reason I like this case is because the name of the plaintiff is so apt - this is the case that made interracial marriage legal. Get it? LOVING? 'Cause, you know, they were in love. Yeah, I'm sorta lame.

Anyway, in a nutshell, Mildred and Richard Loving married in Washington, D.C. because VA law stated that interracial marriage was illegal. Police tried to catch them in an, er, intimate moment (also a crime in VA at the time) and they instead were charged because of their illegal marriage. They were found guilty, and a few years later the ACLU began challenging the ruling, which would eventually be heard by the Supreme Court (it wouldn't be until 2003 that the sodomy laws they tried to arrest them for were overturned).

In 2007 on the 40th anniversary of their case, Mildred Loving said the following:
I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

I have gay friends who have relationships that are deeper, more committed, and more stable than any relationship I have ever had with a guy in my whole entire life, and yet they can't have their relationship legally recognized. Which is so sad and unfair.