OT: A dear friend got married this past weekend. It was a lovely, lovely ceremony and so clearly a union of two people who loved each other.

Much like the unions of the many who got married in California on Monday.

Lord knows there's enough hate and despair in today's world. That people simply celebrate the miracle that is finding "the someone" you want to spend the rest of your life is just beyond sad.

With that happy thought, a little follow-up to the "Loving Day" post via Bob. He directed me to Jspot.org and Jeremy Burton's entry, "Mildred Loving, RIP."

Mrs. Loving, of Loving v. Virginia fame, was the woman, along with her husband Richard, who challenged the miscegenation laws, leading to a Supreme Court ruling allowing inter-racial marriage in America in 1967. Writes Burton:

In recent years I've had many opportunities to work on Jews of Color issues (for a fantastic book on this topic, see Melanie Kaye-Kantrowitz's "The Color of Jews," in which I have a bit part). Its important to remember that a substantial part of the Jews of Color story in this country would not be possible - or would certainly have developed very differently - without the Loving's courage (substantial but not all, since many Jews of Color come from non-European historically Jewish backgrounds, from adoption, or from non-racially mixed families of conversion, for example). And that courage, while not blind to larger impact, was informed by a very personal desire - to love freely and openly.

Whats also worth holding up at this time is the direct line from Loving to the most important marriage rights issue of our generation - equal marriage rights for same-sex families, and their is a profound narrative connection between these two civil rights causes.