Georg Stanford Brown and Tyne Daly’s interracial marriage faced hate but their love lasted decades
It’s still a mystery when and how society learned to discriminate and judge, especially when it comes to sexuality and race.
Even a person’s socioeconomic status triggers so many unpleasantries.
While this isn’t meant to sound reassuring, know that even the famous aren’t spared from such prejudices.
A quick history lesson will tell you that in 1961, the Maryland General Assembly proposed a law banning interracial marriages.
We can imagine how terrible the clauses under this law are.
What made it even worse was during the Civil War, it became a law in almost 30 states.
But love is a force to be reckoned with.
Not even the strictest law can stop two people from being together.
Despite this reassuring fact, the reality is that there wasn’t much progress from the day the law was passed.
Fast forward to the 1960s, interracial marriages still elicited looks of disapproval and unwarranted comments from society.
George Stanford Brown and Tyne Daly were among the ones who stood tall despite the odds.
Brown was an actor known for his roles in “The Rookies,” “Roots,” and “The Comedians,” while Daly, who co-starred with Brown in “Cagney and Lacey,” was a theater star.
The two met at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and instantly hit it off.
The years weren’t smooth-sailing, with glances and whispers always following them, but they chose to ignore these.
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However, when the two shared an onscreen kiss on an episode of “The Rookies,” it became clear that there was not much progress on the acceptance of interracial marriages.
Censors insisted on deleting the entire scene, but family and friends rallied behind the couple, which enticed them to insist that the segment be aired.
There was overwhelming support that empowered Brown and Daly and inspired many others to hold strong and keep their heads up.
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Moreover, years later, Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled in favor of the Lovings in Loving vs. Virginia, a Supreme Court case that fought against making interracial marriages illegal in the United States.
This finally put an end to the ridiculousness of it all.
Interracial couples no longer had to keep things under the radar or feel as though they were engaging in something wrong.
It was love, it was marriage, nothing more, nothing less.
Race had nothing to do with it, and Chief Justice Earl Warren, along with many others, fought hard for it.
Countless times, Tyne Daly emphasized how deeply she loved George and how she never considered their marriage ‘interracial.’
It was simply a marriage filled with so much love and respect; she knew how much she loved George, and it didn’t matter what color his skin was or what others had to say about them.
They had three children: Alisabeth Brown, Kathryne Dora Brown, and Alyxandra Beatris Brown.
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It wasn’t completely a happy ending as the couple ended up getting divorced after twenty-four years of marriage but nevertheless, the fight to love freely and marry as they wished paved the way for many others.
Those who felt like they had to hide their love from the world’s judging eyes could finally look everyone else straight in the face while standing hand in hand with their partner.
And despite how her marriage ended, Daly continued to speak for those who society refused to hear, fighting to legalize gay unions across the United States.
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Listen to Tyne Daly’s moving speech about equality below!
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Source: Instagram – kaptaindorabrown, Instagram – tynedalyonline, YouTube – It Shoulda Been You on Broadway