My grandmother use to tell me not to marry white. She was adamant on that. She said be friends, be nice, but do not date. She did not trust white people and growing up I did not understand her logic. See she grew up during segregation. Her mother moved to Chicago from Tennessee so she had seen a lot. My great Grandmother was a day worker who was proud to be a woman of color, but she too, did not believe in dating white. They were alive when Emmett Till was murdered after being accused of whistling at a white lady. They were alive when you would be jailed for marrying anyone other than a person of the opposite sex of your same race. They marched on Washington for equal rights, yet marrying whomever you loved was taboo.

In the 1660's, Maryland became the first colony to prohibit interracial marriages. The act that introduced human slavery in 1664. By 1750, all the southern colonies as well as Massachusetts and Pennsylvania had made interracial marriages illegal. By the early 1960's at least 41 states had enacted anti-miscegenation statutes at one time. (Robinson, 2015)(Bump, 2014)

Interracial marriage laws have only been fully legal in the United States since the 1967 Supreme Court deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional and a violation of the 14th amendment. I watched a documentary there a couple were sentenced to prison for being married. Their marriage was illegal because he was white and she was black was a violation of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The act prohibited marriage between “coloreds” and whites. Because they fought for their marriage to be legal and won June 12 is deemed “Loving Day”.

Let’s fast forward to present day. The fight to marry who you love is still being fought. Same-sex couples have battled for their right to marry. They felt their civil rights were being violated by the states not recognizing their union as legal. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015 that gay marriage is a right protected by the U.S. Constitution in all 50 states. Although same-sex couples can marry, business owners are allowed to refuse services such as wedding cakes and venues based on their personal religious beliefs. The primary argument against same sex marriage was that marriage traditionally has been defined as a union between man and woman.

While the bible does not speak on same sex marriage it does speak on the sin on same sex relationships. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (Openbible, 2001)

While I believe that God's word clearly states that we should marry, it also states that He will have the final say not man. Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Openbible, 2001)I believe that we are accountable for our own sins and it is a violation of human rights to not allow someone to marry based of the color of their skin nor their sexual preference. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.(Openbible, 2001) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. We all deserve love and happiness while we are in this world and if a person just so happens to love someone who happens to be another race who is man to deny that love.