Celebrating Loving Day

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The world’s largest multicultural celebration, Loving Day (www.lovingday.org) is coordinated by the Loving Day Project to remember a love story. For a 13th consecutive year, Loving Day festivities commemorate the June 12th, 1967 anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that ruled in favor of married couple Richard and Mildred Loving, who got the Court to reaffirm the very foundation of the right to marry.

Focus Features, which will release the new movie Loving this fall, is joining this year’s network of Loving Day celebrations as a day for love and family, coordinated by the Loving Day Project (www.LovingDay.org), and Founder Ken Tanabe. Around the globe, people get engaged, married, or gather with their families to honor and remember two people who paved the way for so many.

Loving (www.lovingthefilm.com), written and directed by Jeff Nichols, tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the real-life couple who inspired Loving Day. The film centers on the courage and commitment of Richard and Mildred (portrayed in the film by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), an interracial couple who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Richard and Mildred’s love story and the landmark case has become an inspiration and a foundation for marriage equality ever since. Focus will release Loving (#ThisIsLoving) in select cities on November 4th and then expand it across the country.

Loving Day festivities will be in many cities. The flagship celebration in New York City will be the largest event, with approximately 1,000 guests expected, and will be held on Saturday, June 11th from 3:00-7:00 PM (rain date, Sunday, June 12th) at Solar 1, on the East River waterfront. Thousands of supporters will participate in additional celebrations both large and intimate across the country and globally. In Los Angeles, the Mixed Remixed Festival – Friday, June 10th and Saturday, June 11th – offers a film/book/media festival at the Japanese American National Museum. In Washington, DC, Loving Day will be commemorated at Mulebone Restaurant.

For Loving Day and beyond, Focus is inviting couples and families to share their stories and photos on social media (Twitter: @LovingTheFilm; Facebook: LovingTheFilm; Instagram: LovingTheFilm) in celebration of Loving Day and to honor Richard and Mildred.

Mr. Tanabe commented, “We are inspired by the thousands of people worldwide who celebrate Loving Day. It’s all in the name of Richard and Mildred Loving, a brave couple who paved the way for future generations. Their love and commitment to each other continues to set the example. When we honor the landmark Loving decision on Loving Day, it’s a reminder to everyone that love wins.”

About The Loving Day Project

The Loving Day Project (www.LovingDay.org) helps to effect annual celebrations that commemorate the June 12th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court decision that declared all laws against interracial marriage in the United States to be unconstitutional. Loving Day is celebrated in cities nationwide and internationally, collectively forming the world’s largest network of multiethnic community celebrations. Its mission is to fight racial prejudice through education and to build multiethnic community. Its vision is to create an annual tradition that will make the Loving case a universally recognized civil rights landmark. Ken Tanabe is Founder, and President, of the Loving Day Project.