People say love is colorblind, and a recent study shows the country is echoing that sentiment.A record 14.6 percent of newlyweds in 2008 married a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, according to findings by Pew Research Center, an organization that provides information about issues and trends affecting the United States.The spike in interracial marriage is more than twice the number it was 30 years ago, when a 1980 study showed 6.8 percent of newlyweds had married interracially.The figures further another study released in February by Pew saying about 85 percent of today’s 18 to 29-year-olds accept interracial marriage.”It was different for our grandparents,” said Nicole Bower, a graduate student studying education. “They were conditioned to a different view of life.”But Louisiana and other southern states are not as quick to catch up with the progressive national trends.Louisiana saw 9 percent of newlyweds in 2008 marry interracially, while Mississippi ranked lowest in the nation with just 5 percent, according to the Pew study.A Louisiana justice of the peace resigned in November 2009 after drawing criticism for refusing to grant a marriage license to an interracial couple.Keith Bardwell stepped down from the post after a Hammond couple filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against him, according to a November report by CNN. The couple claimed Bardwell violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.”People want to keep everything the same,” said Ryan Moser, a University alumnus. “But with our generation, it’s pretty accepted.”
Some University students claimed the conventional nature of the southern U.S. plays a significant role in shaping the outlook on progressive trends.
Tiffany Michel, communication studies junior, said she grew up in a religious household that generally did not accept alternative marriage styles as commonplace.”People tend to keep the same ideals they’ve always had,” she said. “But love knows no boundaries or colors.”
Michel said the traditional viewpoints likely stem from the heavily conservative, Catholic population.”It’s a touchy subject,” Michel said. “The South is in progress. We’ll catch up eventually. Maybe in the next millennium.”
But media continue to set the precedent on what is considered standard, with interracial relationships becoming increasingly more frequent in pop culture.
A far advancement since interracial marriage was illegal in the 1950s, it’s ordinary to see celebrity couples like Heidi Klum and Seal, Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs, and Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush stroll down the red carpet.Entertainment has not turned a blind eye to the progressive attitudes either, with Halle Berry   earning the 2001 Oscar for Best Actress for her turn in “Monster’s Ball” as a struggling mother caught up in a shaky relationship with a white man.”I’ve never really seen it portrayed negatively in Hollywood,” Michel said. “Except in one episode of ‘The Jeffersons’ when they kept saying ‘zebra couple.’ But it’s different nowadays.”– 
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