Pete Bungum's BLOG - Day 26,111 in my journey through life.

Today is Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - and it is another perfect day with sunshine and temps around 80 degrees. The only thing we need now is some rain - the farmers have their crops in and they really need some moisture so the seeds can take off. I'm grateful for another day of "I'm HIV."
This morning I did yoga, lifted weights and walked 54 minutes = 3.0 miles for a May total of 38.8 miles. My weights was at 162.4 pounds.
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY. With President Obama coming out in favor of same sex marriage a Kansas City reporter, named Mary Sanchez, was motivated to write a column about previous marital discrimination in the U.S. She wrote about a couple, named Mildred and Richard Loving,  from Washington D.C. who got married in 1958 and moved back to their native Virginia. This should not have a been a problem except Mildred was of African-American and American Indian heritage and Richard was a white man. When they moved to Virginia they were in trouble. The reason being that Virginia had a law on the books that said blacks could not marry white people. So one night Sheriff's deputies barged into their home, hoping to find them in the midst of a sex act, which was also illegal between the races in Virginia - instead they found them sleeping in bed. But the evidence of their marriage certificate became the basis for charging the couple with the felony of being an interracial couple in the state of Virginia.
So what happened? It was good news. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down and banned all antimiscegenation laws in all 50 states. Whites and blacks could now legally get married in all 50 states  Mary, the author of the article,  went on to make the point that the Supreme Court may have to do the same thing with same-sex marriage.
In 2007, on the 40th anniversary of that Supreme Court decision Mildred issued these words. "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."