# Reactions to Loving v. Virginia in 1967? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646 "2015-06-27T19:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/21 "2015-06-29T21:11:33Z")
It MAY have been a huge story in the South, and may have led to a great outcry there. But in New York, where I grew up, interracial marriage was already legal, and the story barely made the news at all. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/22 "2015-06-30T01:12:17Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The main reason for these constitutional ammendments was that the opponents of SSM could sense the shifting of opinion among Americans. So they triied to lock the prohibition up as well as they could while they still had a majority. In at least a few states, it was pretty openly used as a wedge issue to drive right-leaning voters to the polls and boost GOP candidates. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I think it backfired in the long run; the vast majority of Americans under age 30 see these amendments and other roadblocks as being just plain mean. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/23 "2015-06-30T14:41:32Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [I misread New England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia). :smack: After rechecking it appears that, going back to pre-Revolutionary times, the actual number is 43 out of 50 states having banned interracial marriage at some point. The actual number is **41** out of 50 states (not 43 out of 50) having banned interracial marriage at some point. Nine states (plus the District of Columbia) never did: New York New Jersey Connecticut Vermont New Hampshire Minnesota Wisconsin Alaska Hawaii On the map I previously linked, scroll the mouse over those states and you’ll see they come up “Never had restrictions” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/24 "2015-06-30T15:52:31Z")
:o You know what, I think I’m just going to walk away from this thread and never look back. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/25 "2015-06-30T15:57:32Z")
I was 11, and don’t remember anything about it. And we were (temporarily) living in VA at the time. Of course I was more concerned with building tree forts and such than reading the newspaper or paying attention to Walter Cronkite. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/26 "2015-06-30T19:02:49Z")
I was six, and don’t recall it either. I do recall the disapproval from my dad on seeing any interracial couple, well into the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646/27 "2015-07-01T14:18:25Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > :o You know what, I think I’m just going to walk away from this thread and never look back. I doubt you had as much reason to be interested in the topic as I did. It didn’t involve your family and you weren’t writing an essay about it. I’d still like to know how people reacted at the time, but I can’t turn up anything online so I’ve come to the conclusion that my best bet is to go to the university a few minutes from my house and see if they have a newspaper archive to check editorials, news items and letters to the editor from that time. This is the Deep South so here’s where the laws were struck down because here’s people thought interracial marriage was wrong (to put it mildly). Because I’m still curious to know if they (the South) threw as much of a hissy fit back then with public officials basically throwing toddler-style fits saying they’re not going to do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reactions-to-loving-v-virginia-in-1967/723646.md?page=1)