I was a little girl in Virginia when it was so declared. That iconic slogan was introduced just two years after the Supreme Court ruled in
Loving v. Virginia that Mildred Loving and her husband could be legally married. (And that their sentence to prison for their "crime" would not stand.)
Last week Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen ruled for the defendants in the recent case challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's ban on same-sex marriages. At the beginning of her ruling, Judge Wright Allen includes this from Mildred Loving:
We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn't that what marriage is? ... I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry. Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the 'wrong kind of person' for me to marry. 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. ... I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about." - Mildred Loving, Loving for All
Some of us have been on this road for a long time. My first action in support of marriage equality was informing the congregational board of the UU congregation I was serving in 1988 that I would be performing a same-sex wedding. They were a little surprised at first, but fully supported me. I could not have dreamed then of how quickly things would change.
There are still legal hoops to jump through before I will be able to sign a Virginia license for a same-sex couple. But no one should doubt that this will happen.
Last week when the ruling came down, I was leading the closing worship at a clergy retreat. We were honoring some retiring ministers and I was preaching on finding wholeness in the midst of brokenness. As we were singing, Rev. Jeanne Pupke from the First UU Church of Richmond took my hand and whispered in my ear that the judge had ruled for marriage equality. A little more wholeness in our world. Another step toward love and compassion.
It does matter what we do. We can make a difference. As Paul Riddle said a few weeks ago in services (introducing the work of Equality Virginia to us), the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice - when we give it a push. We have put the weight of our convictions and our commitments into this work and it has mattered.
Let us never forget this.
Yours,
Mary Katherine 
