Yes, it's true that there no longer exist anti-miscegenation laws therefore allowing couples of different racial backgrounds to enjoy the same rights and privileges of any other couple. Yes, it's true that issues against interracial relationships are now, more than ever, being contested. Yes, it's true that pro-interracial relationships have sparked and won numerous debates.

Despite all these documented realities, there still lie several unanswered questions in everyone's minds. Are interracial couples really free? Have they really broken through the chains of misconception and ridicule in their chosen relationships?

Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina were among the first states to ban interracial marriages in the sixteen hundreds. It was deemed necessary back then because of the confusion brought about by classifying a child of a black and a white couple as a slave or as a free person.

Legally referred to as Anti-Miscegenation Laws, constitutional provisions banning union in marriage of couples belonging to different races were abolished in 1967. The controversial Loving vs. Virginia trials has much to play in this eventful happening.

Virginia residents Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a black woman, in their desire to express their love through the sanctity of marriage went to Washington DC in 1958 to get married. Back then, Washington DC was one of the few states that did not put a ban on interracial marriages. When they went back home to Virginia, they were arrested with the charges of violating the state's anti-miscegenation laws. They were convicted and charged at least a year in prison. For almost a decade, Mr. and Mrs. Loving fought a legal battle against the very provisions that put them in prison. In 1967, the Supreme Court rules that marriage, interracial or otherwise, resides solely in the decision of the individual. The ultimate result of this Court decision was the abolishment of all anti-miscegenation laws in the United States.

Although the United States completely and undeniably allows marriage between races, reservations and inhibitions against such remains. Some express that interracial marriages tolerates abandonment of one's own racial background and identity. Some even go as far as calling these marriages as disregard to one's family and culture. Furthermore, some concerns revolve more in the preservation of one's race in that they see interracial marriage as a possibility to wipe out an entire race.

In the arguments that interracial relationships recognizes and accepts unity in cultural and racial diversity and that color eventually losses its weight in romantic relationships and dating, we see the problem truly manifest itself.

When interracial relationship is so commonplace that there is no longer a need to write about it, when it has blended itself well to the usual dating practices, when an interracial couple seen walking in the streets hand-in-hand is no longer an interracial couple but simply a couple, can we truly say that we have abolished all barriers and reservations to this dating practice.

Jim Grafiti is the owner and operator of one of the world's number one interracial dating sites. Jim's goal is to increase awareness of interracial dating online and help singles meet up with their dream match.

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