Happy Loving Day Poem by Jim Yerman

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving fell in love and thought it would be great
To marry one another...but this was 1958.

It was against the law to marry in Virginia (yes it was not their right!)
Since Mildred happened to be black and Richard...he was white.

So they married in Washington, D.C. (it was legal over there)
But when they returned to Virginia they were arrested for their affair.

They pleaded their case to the judge...alas to no avail
He found them guilty and sentenced them to spend the next 3 years in jail.

But the judge gave them a choice...which was not as just as it appears.
They could serve their time in jail or leave Virginia for 25 years.

Between imprisonment and banishment it wasn't hard to see
Why Mildred and Richard decided to stay married and move to Washington, D. C.

Although they were now legally husband and wife
They missed their families, faced discrimination and wanted a better life.

So Mildred wrote a letter explaining their particular point of view
Which found its way to Bobby Kennedy (the Attorney General) and then to the ACLU

The ACLU took up their cause and decided to lend the Loving's their voice
They believed all Americans are entitled to be married and live in the state of their choice.

After a 9 year struggle, Mildred and Richard finally had a victory to savor,
When in 1967 the Supreme Court Justices voted unanimously in their favor.

June 12,1967 to be exact and I think it's appropriate to say
It's because of Mildred and Richard Loving that we celebrate Loving Day.

Loving Day...it has a nice ring doesn't it...I'll say it again...Loving Day
The day The Supreme Court decided all Americans can be married...unless, of course, you're gay.