Gay marriage is becoming less and less taboo, especially after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Maryland. But another kind of marriage is also becoming less and less taboo – interracial marriage.
A recent study done by the Pew Research Center shows that interracial marriage reached its highest in 2010. According to USA Today Your Life, “15 percent of couples married outside their race or ethnicity.”
USA Today Your Life also added, “Pew found that minorities, younger adults, the college educated, those who say they’re “liberal” and those who live in the Northeast and the West are more likely to view intermarriage positively.”
So are Maryland students more likely to look at interracial relationships positively?
According to News and World Report, Rutgers – Newark leads the diversity index with a score of 0.76. But the University of Maryland is not too far behind with a diversity index of 0.57. The index is on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 and measures the proportion of minority students attending a school, excluding international students.
With such diversity at Maryland, it would not be surprising to see an interracial couple walking around campus holding hands. In fact, people would probably not even look twice.
Sophomore communication major, Alyse Feldman, was in an interracial relationship for four months. “People would say that they were ‘surprised’ that I was in an interracial relationship,” Feldman said. “I would either ignore them or be rude back because I didn’t understand what that meant.”
Yet she believes that Maryland is probably more open to the idea of interracial relationships than other states.
Sophomore psychology major, Kristin Corcoran, is not only in a long-distance relationship, but also an interracial relationship. She says, “Now it’s so common to date someone that’s another race.”
“It honestly feels the same,” Corcoran added. “The only thing is I eat different food at his house and he teaches me more about other cultures.”
USA Today Your Life reported that the Pew study found that “43% agree that more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society. 44% say it has made no difference, while 11% say it has been a change for the worse.”
“Some people saw the interracial relationship as nothing special,” Feldman said. “And most people were welcoming in terms of friends and family that met him.” So if you have your eye on someone of a different race, don’t be afraid to explore the possibility of a relationship!