As one who works with young children who do not judge or really even notice differences I know that all prejudices are learned. We need antidiscrimination laws to help prevent and punshish those who act with prejudice and we need acceptance laws to help change public awareness and acceptance. This is the only way to eradicate prejudices in future generations.

Interesting that a conversation started about Caitlyn Jenner had hundreds of responses and then segwayed into government and power, while this topic didn't attract comments.

Roarah, you are so right about discrimination being learned, but I'm not sure what you mean by acceptance laws. Just as views on gay marriage have changed very rapidly, so has so has attitudes towards mixed couples. No one looks twice anymore when they see a mixed family except to see how the children are so beautiful. Yes, there are still jerks out there, but it is still a huge improvement.

There has been a really detailed report that just came out from the Pew Research Center called "Multiracial in America." Interesting data on the history of tracking race in our county and perspectives from multiracial adults. It's really long but very good. I follow them on Twitter so I've seen a lot of it already.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/06/11/multiracial-in-america/

I guess by acceptance laws I mean laws that make it acceptable to marry anyone one wishes to. Like todays same sex laws. I do not think it is a real type of law just trying to make my thoughts make sense. I was comparing today's gay rights fight to the civil rights of years past.

I think that thread turned into an awful lot about gay weddings and cakes, and I thought it was interesting that this past weekend was a remembrance of the Supreme Court decision against existing miscegenation laws.

Just 48 years ago, 94% were against mixed race marriages, and when you actually knew someone in a mixed race marriage it was a big deal, and now, of course, it's not. I think the same thing will happen to same-sex marriage, eventually. The other thing that was interesting is that it seemed that the libertarian view was that law isn't necessary because the law often reflects societal change that's happened anyway, but clearly this was not the case with mixed race marriage. The law came in advance of the change in attitude with just 6% agreeing with the point of the decision at that time.

It is amazing to consider that those laws existed in such the recent past. Hope things continue moving in a positive direction for the issues that exist today.

Interesting contrast to a program the History channel...or one of them... recently had a thing on there about the KKK today vis a vis it's history and how it's trying to remake itself or repackage itself as something nonviolent. It was funny to see them denouncing the aryan nation and skinheads...we're not those kinds of racists! It is scary to see this family with their young children running a radio show selling their stuff...still all about racial purity, all about America was meant for the white races, the races are not to intermingle and heavily intertwined with protestantism and bible quotes and the evils of multiculturalism. According to the show, they started out as an extension of a social fraternity that wanted to do pranks. I was aware, but some may not be, that their early 20th century hot button item was against catholics and jews. So for them, it's not just race, but religion too.

But my thinking is, it's never a good idea to get involved in any organization that requires you to wear a mask....

It is amazing to consider that those laws existed in such the recent past.

I'm not 60 yet and when I was very young my parents ran a beachfront hotel in FL. In those days, there was a certain street that was the official demarcation between the white neighborhoods and "colored town" and black people could not cross that street after 7 pm without a pass.

None of this stuff is as far away as we like to think.

My province, Nova Scotia, is as close as you get in Canada to the South in terms of Black/White relations (e.g. the main province in Canada where British people held black people in slavery) and the last segregated school in Canada was closed in Nova Scotia in 1983. In the 80s!!!!

Although the laws were invalidated, I guess you'd call it, in 1967, Alabama had a law on the books against miscegenation until 2000 I believe.

I think the first group the Klan organized against was Catholics. There was a fair amount of anti-Catholic sentiment in the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. The church that I went to for a number of years here is still entered through a small gate underneath contiguous buildings, almost like a service alley, and at one point had been completely surrounded by other buildings. The parishioners practiced in secret in an era of potentially violent anti Papist sentiment. Of course, it's probably easier to pass as non-Catholic than it is to pass as non-Black, non-Trans or even non-gay to some extent.

Yes, palimpsest. Even in my childhood on our annual trips north for the summer we would spend a lot of time driving around to find the Catholic church, since it was most inadvisable to ask in many areas of the South.

Yeah, my friend who went to school in the south said they said KKK stood for K---s [derogatory word for African Americans], K---s [derogatory word for Jews], and Katholics.

I guess perception is everything just like the saying goes. I have lived in Alabama all my life, and unfortunately have seen all the stereotypical stink-eyes given to interracial marriages. Thankfully I haven't witnessed this sort of overt discrimination and hope to never see it but I'm sure it exists across the country. If there was ever any Catholic discrimination in the small town I grew up in, we never saw it, as the Catholic church was right across the street from the Baptist church and just down from the Presbyterian and Methodist churches on the main drag thru town. My high school segregated the year after I graduated, without incident.

But yes, discrimination is learned, and it is learned at home, in churches, in schools, and many other places unfortunately. Alabama was the last state to change its laws but didn't enforce that law for quite a while. Unfortunately there will always be those who won't change their attitudes and will perpetuate discrimination of some type. I'm glad this number is down to 11% and hope it continues to go lower.

I always thought it fitting that the case is known as the "Loving case".

I am curious as to how the surveys are worded. Of my friends in interracial marriages, some have received the most disapproval from the non-Caucasian side. There was definitely a sentiment of say, the Hispanic should have married another Hispanic and not a white guy, etc. This is of course not universal. One of my sisters is married to an African-American and his family (at least the closest) seem to be pretty accepting, so if anything is said, it is not around her.

I think we have made huge strides in being accepting of other races and cultures. My DSIL, is Pakistani. He was born there, his family moved to Germany when he was a toddler to escape the poverty and harsh religious views. In Germany he was considered black and they experienced a lot of discrimination. They then came to the United States because of lack of opportunities.

It's funny that I never even considered what race he was. I love him, and his family dearly. My point I suppose is that we are light years ahead of other countries. I can't understand racism because to me we are all part of the human race.

When my first DH and I married his mother was totally against us marrying because he was Greek and I was, in her words, American. He was born here as was she so in my opinion they were both Americans. Anyway we married and had a wonderful twenty two years together before he died. There is definitely prejudice not only regarding race but also culture.

Holly, I've seen the Greek "nationalism" from Greeks born/living in Greece The Greeks also looked down on Greek Americans. My Greek boyfriend in college told me his parents would rather he marry me, a foreigner who they considered equal in socio-economic class, than a "lower class" Greek American. He and I went in different directions, but still friends and skype once a year to say hello. He married a Greek gal in Greece!

My other friend from Cyprus was not allowed to marry her Colombian boyfriend. They returned to their home countries after college, married others, divorced and got together years later and now live in Cyprus and have kids. So plenty of cultural/national prejudice out there, but this was 25+ years ago so I don't know if the Greeks are more open minded now.

I was thinking 11% was surprisingly low.... but it only takes one unbalanced individual to take things to the sad and tragic extreme (e.g. in South Carolina)

If the KKK is a fraternity, perhaps they can join forces with SAE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_CTHZn0Xg

I will say that -- shockingly-- some prejudice is not learned, or rather, it might be learned in ways we cannot pinpoint. A few of my children went through a period where they did not like people with dark skin. My 3 y.o. said something about that re: Dora the Explorer (and she loves her!) a few months ago. She does not attend preschool, so it's not as though other children/teachers have influenced her.

I have NO idea where they got this . . .especially because a few of my children (inc. one of the ones who had this prejudice as a young child) have darker skin! (My husband is from Korea and I am of Irish descent.) It has been such an uncomfortable position to be in. I was one of the only white people in my school growing up-- first time I was around a lot of white people my age was in college-- so I simply can't relate to this at all.

Thankfully, my children (not so sure about the 3 y.o.) have outgrown it. My oldest especially is always quick to point out examples of racism in the media, books, etc.

On the subject of same-sex marriage, I think (no stats on this!) that, at least in some parts of the country, children are growing up to accept it without thought. I know all of my young relatives (teens) don't bat at an eye when their friends "come out"-- I hope in the next generation no one will even feel the need to announce who they are drawn to.

I hope we never become color blind, however! I don't think color should be ignored, but rather the diversity of it appreciated. How boring it would be if we were all the same skin tone. But, of course, it was never, ever about color-- it's always been about fear--the loss of power!

It's amazing to me that as late as 2000 interracial marriage was still illegal in some states. Thankfully my family didn't live in any of those states as two of my siblings have interracial marriage. I was raised in a family w/o racist views (my sister, who was adopted as a baby when I was 3, is biracial) but we certainly saw, and she experienced, racism around us though certainly not like in the South. Sadly, it still happens. My niece, just last summer, was the victim of racial profiling, when she and several friends were pulled over in the neighborhood where my parents own a summer home. While not unusual for there to be blacks vacationing there, they were pulled over for no reason. The cop just thought they seemed suspicious. A carload of black college age students. :(

Anele, I agree that the younger generation seems much more accepting of homosexuality. I have a teenage daughter who goes to Catholic school. Somehow it came up in conversation that a male acquaintance (fellow student) was gay - I think b/c I asked her if he was dating this girl he hung out with a lot. I was surprised that as a freshman in a catholic school he would be open about his sexuality. We had a conversation about it...she said most kids at school were very accepting of it. While that wouldn't necessarily surprise me, I do know many parents of kids at this school who would be very judgmental so I thought maybe some of that would have rubbed off on their children. I'm glad to see it hasn't. When same sex marriage became legal in MD a couple of years ago, I was shocked that some of my friends, who I thought would be supportive, made some very negative remarks to me. And yet last year when a mutual acquaintance married her girlfriend, these same people were "liking" the photos of the wedding on FB. I was surprised they were sharing their opinions so freely with me not knowing my own opinions as I don't typically discuss politics In this type of setting - we were at school the day after the election doing volunteer work. I guess everyone at school assumes I'm a Republican since I'm Catholic (there are few Democrats I know in this school--it's like we are a secret club LOL!).

It was invalid/unenforceable after 1967 nationwide, it's just that some states didn't get around to removing their laws from the books for another 33 years, which tends to indicate how supportive they were of the change, I suppose.

I believe that we will see complete societal acceptance of gay marriage within five years.

More like 5 days.

I mean even from the hardest line, right wing, tea drinking R's. It's going to take more than a Supreme Court ruling to change their minds.....look at Roe vs. Wade.

Yup. On my Facebook newsfeed there are those decrying America's slide into immorality. I immediately changed my profile picture to a rainbow one. :)

How America Achieved Marriage Equality - a gif showing the quick spread of same sex marriage bans and even quicker spread of reversals. You guys have had a very strange decade.

Or, as we Canadians a little-too-smugly say...welcome to 2005!

I think there are religious freedom implications to all of this, such as religious based schools who provide housing for married students not recognizing the same-sex marriage, and I don't think they should have to, probably. It's very complex.

Of course the official stance of the American College of Bishops is against the recognition of marriage, but I think there is a lot of more local acceptance within the church. I have a gay friend who is a deeply religious Roman Catholic --he is not from America and even had a shrine to the Virgin Mary in his old apartment. He has been in a long-term relationship (17 years) and would regularly go to confession and confess that he was in a same-sex relationship and was not married and would also confess when he engaged in some sort of sexual contact with his partner. The priest in his parish finally said "This is not a sin, you are in a long-term relationship, and you would probably marry if you could, this is not a matter for confession." I am not sure that my friend fully believes this, and at this point may be practicing celibacy within the context of this relationship. I think that's how some people deal with their inner conflict. The church I attend tends to either completely avoid official discussion of these topics or make general statements (vague but you can read between the lines) regarding their welcome to "all" Catholics.

I love this graph showing the variety of rights available across regions in the US.

I don't know much about Catholicism but it seems like Francis, despite his many conservative views, is nudging the church slightly to the left. I'm hoping the trend continues!

I'm Episcopalian. We have many gay parishioners, married and not, many of whom were disaffected Roman Catholics. They grew up Catholic and in many ways still identify as such, but just needed to be embraced as they are. The current Catholic bishop is an ogre who wants to institute morality clauses for all parochial teachers, whether Catholic or not.

Robo, as a 4th generation Californian, it seems totally weird to see CA classified as Southwest and grouped with UT, CO and NM. I think California deserves its own wedge. :)

I've been so disappointed to see thinly-veiled homophobic statements cloaked in religion made by spiritual leaders in my area. I'm no longer on Facebook (I've been told it's been a contentious place to be these past few days though), but even on Instagram I was saddened by things that a young pastor I know and respected felt the need to broadcast on Friday.

The Methodist church we've been attending takes a more liberal stance, and I appreciate the prayers that I hear there for victims of racism and other social injustice. This past weekend, one of the ministers prayed and specifically mentioned the SCOTUS decision, calling us all to be open-minded and compassionate, desiring for others the same good things we desire for ourselves. That really touched me, and I'm thankful that there are inclusive souls in the ministry.

This is a bit unrelated, but my friends are going to a reform temple in Montreal with a lesbian rabbi (Rabbi Lisa Grushcow) and apparently wherever they go in the Jewish community people are like "So you have THAT rabbi do you?" She must be the most well-known rabbi in Canada. Inclusive clergy are noted in very positive and very negative ways - but at least not boring ones!

I think the current pope is actually more liberal than he is "allowed" to be publicly. I am generally not a conspiracy theory believer but I do think the theories that Pope John Paul I was assassinated because he was too liberal and his election was a fluke, have some validity. He was replaced by John Paul II who said things like homosexuality is "an intrinsic evil". That doesn't even really jibe with the general RC interpretation that the orientation in itself was not something that could be helped, perhaps, but that you did not have to act upon it. That is negative enough, but JPII's statements basically said that even a devout Catholic who was celibate was "evil" if they were gay.

My daughter is mixed race (I'm white, my ex is Chinese). Most of the schools in our immediate area are very diverse, with 5-10% students being mixed race of some combination. Her preschool had an even higher proportion of mixed-race kids. We know lots of kids from lesbian and gay families (Oakland was at one time known as a Mecca for lesbians with kids; I'm not sure if it still has this reputation). Most of the time, all this is unnoticed and unremarked. But once in a while something comes up that reminds me of what outliers my city and my neighborthod are.

My FIL had 5 siblings. Of the 6 of them, two married Chinese, one Indonesian, one Korean, one Jewish, and one Black. I attended a baby shower for one of his Chinese/Korean cousins. I remember talking to an African-American guest, a co-worker of mom-to-be, who didn't know about the family melting pot. She was very surprised to meet the African-American/Chinese cousin (I think she was expecting to be the only African-American at a predominantly Asian event).

I quite like Pope Francis, and his philosophy of love and compassion over doctrinal purity is refreshing. But however the press likes to spin it, he isn't proposing changing church doctrine. That is to say, I don't think he will be proposing that the Catholic Church perform gay weddings anytime soon.

Catholics already make a distinction between "sacramental marriage" and "natural marriage"; perhaps "civil marriage" could be viewed as something else? A civil union does not require a church. Perhaps a "render unto Caesar" approach might help dispel some of the controversy/resistance to same-sex civil weddings.