Repost: Black History Month: Mildred and Richard Loving

Nearly sixty years ago it wasn't same-sex marriage, it was interracial marriage.

Mildred Jeter Loving and Richard Perry Loving were married in June of 1958 in the District of Columbia; they'd gotten married in DC because they couldn't get married in Virginia due to that state's Racial Integrity Act—a law banning marriages between any white person and any non-white person.

Oh yeah, Mildred was a Black woman; Richard was a white man.

After marrying, they returned to Carolina County, Virginia and were charged with violating the ban. Mildred and Richard Loving were asleep in their own bed in their own house when it was invaded by police officers who hoped to find them having sex—an altogether different crime.

Mildred Loving pointed to the marriage certificate on the wall in their bedroom. The police, rather than seeing they weren't committing some kind of interracial sex crime, used the certificate as evidence for a criminal charge since it showed they had been married in another state.

The Lovings were charged under Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code, which prohibited interracial couples from being married out of state and then returning to Virginia, and Section 20-59, which classified "miscegenation"—a mixture of the races especially through marriage, cohabitation, or sexual intercourse between a white person and a member of another race –as a felony punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years.

On January 6, 1959, the Lovings pleaded guilty and were sentenced to one year in prison, with the sentence suspended for 25 years on condition that the couple leave the state of Virginia.

The Lovings were being run out of town because of who they loved. Sound familiar? The trial judge in the case, Leon Bazile, said:

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

Using God as a way to keep people from marrying? Sound familiar now? Mildred and Richard Loving moved to the District of Columbia, and in November of 1963 the ACLU filed a motion to vacate the judgement and set aside the sentence because it ran counter to the 14th Amendment—equal protection under the law.

The case ultimately reached the Supreme Court and, in October of 1964, after their motion was still undecided, the Lovings began a class action suit in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In early 1965, the three-judge district court decided to allow the Lovings to present their constitutional claims to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Virginia Supreme Court Justice Harry Carrico wrote an opinion for the court upholding the constitutionality of the anti-miscegenation statutes and, after modifying the sentence, affirmed the criminal convictions. Carrico said the 14th Amendment didn't apply to the Lovings case because both the white and the non-white spouse were punished equally for the "crime" of "miscegenation."

But then the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions in a unanimous decision, dismissing the Commonwealth of Virginia's argument that a law forbidding both white and Black persons from marrying persons of another race, and providing identical penalties to white and black violators, could not be construed as racially discriminatory. In its decision, the court wrote: 

“Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Lovings. 

Richard Loving died in a car accident eight years later.

On June 12, 2007, Mildred Loving issued a rare public statement, which commented on same-sex marriage, prepared for delivery on the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision of the US Supreme Court., saying in part:

“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. Especially if it denies people's civil rights. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

Mildred Loving died of pneumonia on May 2, 2008. Her daughter, Peggy Fortune, told the AP:

"I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble—and believed in love."

Part of the Washington Post’s obituary read:

“A modest homemaker, Loving never thought she had done anything extraordinary. ‘It wasn't my doing,’ Loving told the AP in a rare interview a year ago. ‘It was God's work.’"

It was just loving.

The Funny Papers

RJ Matson, Tom Stiglich, Ed Hall, Michael de Adder, Bill Bramhall, Jack Ohman, Christine Sharp, Chuck Legge, David Horsey, Nick Anderson, Jeffrey Koterba, Lalo Alcaraz, Clay Bennett

The Pedophiles Are Inside The Churches ... Still

It’s been a while since we noted the child sexual abuse going on in our nation’s churches by our church leaders, teachers, and such.

So let’s take a look, thanks to JoeMyGod, at the latest scandals …

OREGON

Christopher Pruitt, a Beaverton pastor was jailed last week after being accused of inappropriately touching two young girls who were members of his congregation. Pruitt was indicted on six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse.

Michael Sperou, former pastor and co-founder of North Clackamas Bible Community, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration; this marks the third time since 2015 that Sperou has been tried for sexual abuse.

INDIANA

Stephen Ayon, a former English teacher and volleyball coach at Fishers Christian Academy was arrested and accused of sexual misconduct with a student, according to court records. He faces three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, three counts of child seduction and one count of dissemination of matter harmful to minors.

Matthew Brown, a former Bishop Luers High School teacher, has been charged with four felony counts of child seduction.

FLORIDA

David Nims, a former Calvary Baptist Church youth director, was sentenced to 50 years in state prison for hiding a camera in the church bathroom to record people and possessing child pornography.

Derrell Redding, an Ocala, was arrested a pastor after two underage girls described the sexual abuse they endured at his hands. Redding is charged with two counts of sexual battery of a child under the age of 12, a count of sexual battery of a teenager under the age of 18, and lewd and lascivious battery of a child more than 12 and less than 16.

Allen Farabee, a retired pastor, is accused of exposing himself to a nine-year-old girl. According to the affidavit, he was arrested the day prior for similar allegations at the same pool.

TENNESSEE

Benjamin Garlick, an evangelical pastor, was arrested for the rape of a child. In addition, his wife, Shaantal Garlick, is also facing 1-count of Facilitation of Aggravated Rape of a Child and 1-count of Aggravated Child Abuse / Endangerment to a child aged 8 and younger.

CALIFORNIA

Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara, a Catholic Priest has been charged with possession of more than 600 images.

Nicholas Garrett Corl, a Baptist church faculty member was arrested on suspicion of felony lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age.

Todd Baldwin, a department staff member at Valley Christian Schools in San Jose, was arrested for possession and distribution of explicit digital media involving juveniles. Baldwin is also suspected of allegedly paying students for the explicit images and videos.

Barry Fike, a minister and former teacher at Fillmore Church of Christ, has been charged with multiple felony counts of child abuse, including accusations that he tried to meet up with a 15-year-old girl for sex.

ILLINOIS

Garrett Biggerstaff, a pastor and athletic director pleaded guilty to one of two felony charges of child grooming.

Ferrell Kissiar, a former assistant pastor at the Pentecostal Church in Patoka was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison after various consecutive sentences were handed down in the plea agreement for his involvement in a child pornography ring.

GEORGIA  

Kelly Garrett Ivey was indicted for attempting to sell an underage girl on the dark web. In addition, his church, the Rock Springs Church and its affiliated school, Rock Springs Christian Academy, also faces allegations it failed to warn congregants about Ivey trying to traffic a 16-year-old.

NORTH CAROLINA

Doyle Mirtsching, a former kindergarten teacher and senior pastor at a North Carolina church was arrested and charged with three counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

Ivan Hugh-McDonald Peden, a former Methodist minister, is charged with taking indecent liberties with children, indecent exposure to a person under 16, sexual battery, and secret peeping.

VIRGINIA

Shawn Gooden, a Boy Scout leader, an LDS church leader, and a lawyer, pleaded guilty to four sexual assault charges involving a child less than 14 years old.

TEXAS

David Lloyd Walter, pastor at Faith Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to child sexual abuse material; Walther knowingly searched for, downloaded, distributed and possessed child pornography.

Ronnie Allen Killingsworth, pastor of a Wichita Falls church, has been indicted on six counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

NEW MEXICO

Daniel Balizan, a Roman Catholic priest who was removed from a Santa Fe parish nearly a year ago amid a misconduct investigation, has been charged with enticement of a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity.

WISCONSIN

Jordan Huffman, a former Plover youth pastor, has agreed to a plea deal after pleading guilty to two counts of repeated sexual assault of a child; six other charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

PENNSYLVANIA

Marvin Leroy Mosley, former pastor of United Methodist Church in West Penn Twp., was charged with indecent assault involving three juvenile girls between 2007 and 2012. Mosley is no longer a pastor at the United Methodist Church but at the time of his arrest was serving at a church outside of Schuylkill County.

And again, not one drag queen or gay person in the bunch.

Huh, it’s almost like that whole ‘gay people and drag queens are grooming children” nonsense is a lie to cover-up for the real groomers … the so-called Men and Women of God.

The Pedophiles Are Inside The Churches ... Still

I don’t follow rightwingnut and faux Christian, Tomi Lahren, on Twitter, but I do see her posts every so often, where she rants about the LGBTQ+ community and drag queens sexualizing and grooming children. And every time she posts her nonsense, I ask her—though she never responds because it doesn’t suit the Hate Narrative she pushes, why she says nary a word about so-called Men of God, Men of Faith, who groom and abuse children and are arrested and imprisoned for such.

So, here’s some info for Tomi, that I will share to her page, and no doubt not hear a word about it …

CALIFORNIA

Jose Andres Lopez, A retired Orange County pastor, was sentenced to 186 years to life in prison for sexually abusing two young girls with whom he is related from 1991 to 2020.

ALASKA

Dwight Chris John, age seventy-one, who served on the governing board of a Christian & Missionary Alliance church, has been charged with six counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the 1st Degree, seven counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor 2nd Degree, Sexual Abuse of a Minor 3rd Degree, and three counts of Incest. The Investigation is ongoing.

CALIFORNIA

Michael Sasser, a Modesto man who stepped down from his role as a church youth leader a month before his arrest has pleaded guilty to three counts of child molestation for acts that occurred during a period of months in 2022 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

KANSAS

Joseph Heidesch, s former private Catholic school teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, pleaded guilty to one felony count of sexual exploitation of a child and 25 counts of breach of privacy for secretly recording video of more than 100 girls and will spend five years in prison with no chance of parole.

VIRGINIA

Scott Asalone, now 66, A former Loudoun County Catholic priest, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old child; Asalone is required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

TEXAS

Daniel Savala, who’s accused of sexually abusing multiple men in the Assemblies of God’s Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, has also been arrested in Houston on sex abuse charges involving minors.

It’s the second arrest in an investigation started in April by Waco Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit. On May 23, Chris Hundl, former leader of the Chi Alpha chapter at Baylor University and pastor of Mountain Valley Fellowship in Waco, was arrested on identical charges in Waco. According to police records, Hundl drove two boys to Savala’s residence in Houston where Savala “masturbated both children” in his home sauna.

OHIO

Robert Auxter, a former Monroe pastor at Grace Lutheran Church was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of Gross Sexual Imposition, which are third-degree felonies. Auxter is required to register as a tier 2 sex offender.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Daniel Kellan Mayfield, youth pastor at Gowensville First Baptist Church faces new charges of video recording girls—as young as 14—in the bathroom of the church he was fired from recently. He was also charged with using his phone to video record a woman while she was showering at her mother’s home in Greenwood County.

PENNSYLVANIA

Brandon S. Dasilva, a former youth pastor in Ephrata man is charged with possessing child pornography—and it’s not his first offense; he was also charged in February 2021 and failed to register his Twitch account and email address with Pennsylvania State Police, which was a condition of a prior conviction.

MAINE

Raymond K. Chang, a 36-year-old pastor at “Resurrection Church” was arrested on a warrant alleging he sexually assaulted a child. The victim reported being sexually assaulted by Chang multiple times from when she was 12 to 14 years old. The affidavit quotes the victim as saying that she reported the sexual abuse to a family member and in response the family got together with members of Chang’s former church—which is not named in the affidavit—and she was told to apologize and to forgive Chang.

CALIFORNIA

Steven Brian Arey, a former youth pastor in Tulare who was working for the California Department of Corrections at the time of his arrest in 2019, was sentenced to 300 years in prison on 20 counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Kevin Straughan, a former minister of Agape Ministries Church, is accused of strangulation and sexual assault and is being investigated for similar charges in Florida. Straughan has been indicted on several charges, including four counts of sexual assault and second-degree assault of children. Police said the victims were people he knew, including children.

TEXAS

Michael Anthony Romero, a former employee of a Magnolia church, has turned himself in and confessed to ‘inappropriate behavior with adolescents’ during his time at the ministry.

OHIO

The Rev. Michael Jude Zacharias, a Roman Catholic priest who has led parishes in Mansfield and Fremont, has been found guilty on all five counts of sex trafficking, two of which involved victims who were minors. Zacharias admitted to having had sexual relations with several men but maintained that the sex never involved anyone younger than 18 but a nine-page affidavit accuses Zacharias of “grooming” victims to use their drug addiction as a way to perform sexual acts on them.

MISSISSIPPI

Daniel Paul Harris, a Mississippi educator who, with his wife, founded the Kaimen Center to provide activities and experiences for children and adults of varying disabilities, was arrested and charged Thursday with two counts of molestation involving a child, two counts of sexual battery and one count of unnatural intercourse.

CALIFORNIA

Stephen McCurtis, pastor at Maricopa Community Church, has been charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts upon a child after a girl alleged McCurtis kissed and touched her inappropriately. The girl when she was 12 & 13 at the time. McCurtis denies touching the child intimately but told a deputy that he kissed her but claims he was not the pursuer, that the 13-year-old girl pursued him.

LOUISIANA

Jacob De La Paz, who left his employ at St. Thomas More High School abruptly, has been arrested after a video surfaced showing him shirtless and apparently saying sexually suggestive things to student he tutors. He has been charged with the federal crime of enticing a minor to produce child pornography or child sexual assault material.

IOWA

Jordan Dee Andrew Webb, who served as a missionary in the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, was found guilty of one count of second-degree sexual abuse with persons under the age of 12, a Class B felony; incest, a class D felony; and child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor.

See, Tomi, not one drag queen or gay person in the bunch, and yet these people, many of whom have been arrested, charged, tried and found guilty, or admitted guilt, will every appear on your timeline, because you just want to push forward the rightwing, GOP, faux Christian, lies about LGBTQ+ people.

But we see you, and we know who’s grooming children.

h/t JoeMyGod

Architecture Wednesday: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cooke House

Yeah, it’s another FLW house; sue me.

The Cooke House is just one of three FLW’s in Virginia and it’s for sale for $2.9M. The home was designed by FLW and completed in 1960—less than a year after the architect’s death—making it one of his last works.

The Cooke House is a large one, at 3,020 square feet, with four bedrooms and three baths, and faces the sunsets alongside Crystal Lake in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The home is made of double walls of glazed brick, red cypress, and copper roofing and incorporates several of FLW’s signature elements like radiant-slab heating, built-in furniture, and clerestory windows. In fact, in the 70-foot main room—FLW created a Great Room rather than separate rooms as in other designs—he included a  built-in 40-foot couch as well as cathedral ceilings and a curved glass wall to take in the lake views.

The most recent homeowner has updated the kitchen—though the original cabinetry was restored and reused—and one former owner added an underground bunker to the property, that was reconfigured into an art studio space. The current owner did extensive improvements adding new docks, deck, pier, and bulkhead; new plumbing, hot water heating, and automatic shades in living room and primary bedroom.

Seems like a steal at less than $3 million.

Dwell

The Bad and The Good ... Monday May 23, 2022

These really are the easiest posts to compile because there are dumb people everywhere and it seems they are all trying to out-dumb one another with fear and loathing, but there are some bright spots … so here goes:

BAD

MICHIGAN

Republican Jacky Eubanks, Thing 45’s pick for a state Senate seat. is promising to ban all birth control if elected:

“I guess we have to ask ourselves, would that ever come to a vote in the Michigan state legislature? And if it should, I would have to side with it should not be legal. People believe that birth control—it’s better because then you won’t get pregnant and you won’t need to have an abortion, but I think it gives people the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex, and that’s not true and that’s not correct. Sex ought to be between one man and one woman in the confines of marriage.”

Welcome to the 1950s and, please, one reporter, just one, please ask Jacky if she’s ever had sex outside marriage.

WASHINGTON DC

Catherine Glenn Foster, president of the Americans United for Life campaign group, was summoned by the GOP  as an expert witness during a House judiciary committee meeting on access to abortion and said this:

“In places like Washington D.C. [fetuses] are burned to power the lights of the city’s homes and streets. The next time you turn on the light, think of the incinerators.”

She was not questioned about where she gets her facts by any one ion the GOP because … ignorance and fear are the talking points.

VIRGINIA 

GOP Delegate Tim Anderson is threatening to file a restraining order against Barnes and Noble and Virginia Beach Schools to enjoin them from selling or loaning the books Gender Queer and a Court of Mist and Fury because he says they are obscene though neither book fits that definition, and neither book is pornography.

Barnes & Noble has yet to respond to the legal action but, as a private business, they are allowed to sell what they wish to sell and are under no obligation by anyone to move materials out of their facilities.

Still, to the GOP, Gay is Bad.

OKLAHOMA

The state Legislature gave final approval to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization, which would make it the nation’s strictest abortion law.

The bill is modeled on one that took effect in Texas, which has relied on civilian instead of criminal enforcement to work around court challenges, but it goes further than the Texas law because it also subjects abortion providers and anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion to civil suits from private individuals.

The GOP will force women to have babies, but not give a damn about the child once its born.

KENTUCKY

The state’s GOP Representative Thomas Massie cast the only vote against a House resolution honoring Jewish Americans’ heritage and denouncing a rise in violence motivated by antisemitism. The resolution passed the House with 420 votes with Massie’s ‘No’ and either Republicans abstaining from voting.

He voted No to simply denounce a rise in Hate Crimes, and ‘No’ against honoring Jewish American’s heritage.

Let that sink in.

NEW JERSEY

GOP State Senator Edward Durr has introduced legislation that would prohibit teachers from bringing LGBTQ-related instruction into classrooms from kindergarten through sixth grade, while students in seventh through 12th grade can “only” be exposed to LGBTQ topics if a parent gives consent.

If the bill is passed, parents would be allowed to sue schools that employ educators who violate the law by incorporating topics such sexual orientation or gender identity into the curriculum without a parent’s consent.

They will freely teach Hate, though.

GOOD

MAINE

When no adults would revive the community Pride parade in Belfast, Maine, a group of motivated Belfast Area High School students stepped up to make sure that the event—which has been on a pandemic hiatus—happens this year.

The city’s first-ever Pride parade and festival took place in 2016, and became an annual tradition, but no adult organizers had come forward this year to keep the tradition going after being canceled for the last two years due to COVID.

So, twenty high school students secured a permit from the city of Belfast, found sponsors, raised money for banners, flags and other expenses and grappled with the procuring of liability insurance.

That’s the future, y’all.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

GOP Governor Chris Sununu announced he would veto a piece of legislation, the “Parental Bill of Rights,” that critics say could require New Hampshire schools to out LGBTQ+ children to their parents.

A Republican with common sense? Who knew?

AMERICA

About two-thirds of Americans say they do not support overturning Roe v. Wade, and also shows that two-thirds of Democrats say the contents of the SCOTUS leak make them more likely to vote in November, as compared to just 40% of Republicans who said so.

This survey showed that voters would cast their ballot in favor of a Democrat in their local congressional district if the election were held today.

Vote Blue!

WYOMING

GOP Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican representing Wyoming in the U.S. Senate, speaking at commencements of several schools, including the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education, and said that “the existence of two sexes, male and female” was a “fundamental scientific truth.”

She was roundly booed by the students, the educated students.

That is also the future, y’all.

Remember, We The People have to make the Good News happen by speaking up and standing up and shouting out and voting to remove those people from office who are out to harm women, People of Color, and the LGBTQ+ community in their quest to take this country backwards.

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!

Even AFTER George Floyd, This Is STILL Happening In America

On December 5,2020, U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was driving his brand-new Chevy Tahoe when he got the police lights in the rearview mirror. He was in uniform at the time of the stop.

Knowing what could happen to People of Color during even routine police stops, Nazario did not immediately pull over. But he did put on his emergency lights, and continued on driving, under the speed limit, for about a minute-and-a-half, until he could  safely park in a well-lit gas station parking lot.

At the gas station, Windsor Police Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled their guns on Nazario for the crime of driving without license plates even though a new vehicle tag was clearly visible in Lt. Nazario's rear window.

Lt. Nazario says he followed police commands to keep his hands outside the vehicle, but says officers became agitated when he asked why he was being stopped, as is his right. That’s when Gutierrez says—and he is heard on police body cams:

"What's going on? You're fixin' to ride the lightning, son?"

Nazario's attorney Jonathan Arthur says, in Nazario’s lawsuit, that ‘ride the lightning’ is a colloquial expression for an execution, originating from glib reference to execution by the electric chair”. And while Virginia recently outlawed capital punishment, the state has executed prisoners via the electric chair for more than a century.

Nazario is heard telling the officers that he was “honestly afraid to get out” of his SUV, and Officer Gutierrez replies:

“Yeah, you should be!”

The officers then pepper sprayed Nazario multiple times, "causing him substantial and immediate pain," damaged Nazario’s new car, and choked his dog, who was crated in the rear of the vehicle.

Gutierrez responded with knee-strikes to Lt. Nazario's legs to force an already compliant and blinded Lt. Nazario down on his face ostensibly to handcuff him. And while he was on the ground, and in tears, Gutierrez and Crocker continued to strike him. They also warned him not to complain about their treatment of him, and threatened to criminally charge him; if, however, Nazario, according to , the lawsuit, would "chill and let this go," then no charges would be filed.

Lt. Caron Nazario was not criminally charged or cited for any traffic violation.

Huh. I guess there is no law on the books about Black Men Driving New Cars in Windsor, Virginia.

A town manager says Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker still work for the police department.

See the video at NBC News and ask yourselves, if you are a white person, if you would have been treated the same; if you would have felt safe getting out of the car; if police officers would have pulled guns on you; if you’d have heard the officer joke about the electric chair; if you’d have been told you have good reason to be afraid; if you’d have been pepper sprayed, grabbed and thrown to the ground because there were no license plates on your car.

If you were white …

UPDATE: Officer Joe Gutierrez has been fired from the Windsor Police Department. Daniel Crocker, however, still has his job.