The Civil Rights Act - 44 Years Later

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving

Yesterday, as I reflected on the 44th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, I thought about how far we have come in the fight for equality and how much work we still have ahead of us. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of the progress we have made as a nation all around us – none more visible than the Democratic Presidential Primary race between Senators Clinton and Obama. But even as we celebrate these victories we must keep in mind those who have been left behind in the struggle for equality.

As the recent California Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage demonstrated, there are people and places in this country that are ready to correct the injustice being visited on gay Americans and support marriage equality. Many of the most ardent opponents of gay unions claim to be “defending marriage” as though allowing two people of the same gender who love each other to get married somehow weakens the institution of marriage.

Ignoring the incredibly high rate of divorce in heterosexual marriages, they reject the simple truth that providing a legal framework for gay couples to marry would create MORE strong, supportive families – not LESS. Would these people propose we ban divorce in order to protect marriage? Moreover, the opponents of gay marriage are largely the same group who stood against making interracial marriage legal over 40 years ago. How would Americans react today if we said interracial marriage should be banned? I think Americans would overwhelmingly oppose such a ban.

Democrats have been the driving force in much of the social progress we have made in the last 50 years, but we must always remember that there are people and parties in our country who seek to advance their own agenda by scapegoating and demonizing those who are different. We must stand up against this kind of discrimination at every opportunity and support what we know to be right. As we celebrate our nation’s independence this weekend we must remember not only what is great about our country, but how we can work to create a more perfect union.

A new generation of Americans is emerging and they generally don't think about race, religion or sexual orientation – when they make friends, date – or decide to marry. Hopefully the baby boomer generation and the depression era-WWII generation will learn from their children and grandchildren.