To protest the California Supreme Court's recent decision to allow same-sex marriage, some counties in the state have stopped performing marriage ceremonies
altogether. This isn't the first time conservatives have committed acts
of civil disobedience regarding marriage. In a 1999 "History Lesson,"
David Greenberg explained that long after a 1967 Supreme Court ruling
that struck down bans against interracial marriage, some county clerks
in the South refused to issue marriage licenses to mixed-race couples.
The article is reprinted below.
Last week, the Alabama Senate voted to repeal the state's
constitutional prohibition against interracial marriage, 32 years after
the Supreme Court struck down Virginia's similar ban. Hadn't these
archaic laws gone out with Bull Connor? I asked myself as I read the
news account. And haven't we been hearing that America has rediscovered
the melting pot, that in another generation or two we'll all be
"cablinasian," like Tiger Woods?
I talked to the measure's main
sponsor, state Rep. Alvin Holmes, a 24-year statehouse veteran who has
been trying to overturn the ban for decades. "The last time I tried was
about three years ago," said Holmes. "It didn't get out of committee."
Holmes credits his success to the last election, in which a bevy of
Democrats were swept into office.
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