From the February 22, 2012 issue of The Columbus Dispatch:

(quoted from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/17/mixed-race-marriages-grow--and-so-does-acceptance.html:

Either Dan and Michelle Carsey have grown more comfortable in their skin or others have become more accepting of their differing skin colors.

The Gahanna couple is among a growing number of interracial or mixed ethnic marriages, although a new study finds that Ohio’s recent rate of intermarriage trails the national average.

The willingness of people to enter into mixed marriages is growing, with 15 percent of U.S. marriages between 2008 and 2010 involving interracial couples, according to a study released yesterday by the Pew Research Center.

The research suggests that about 20,000 Ohio marriages (10.3 percent) during that period involved men and women of differing heritage, a rate that ranks 34th among the 50 states and near the Midwest average of 11 percent.

When Carsey, who is white, was united with his bride, who is black, in 2008, he seemed to particularly notice the looks of disdain. “Caucasian couples dead staring at you, as if saying, ‘ What the hell are you doing?’

“It’s something we’ve grown to ignore, but it does seem like it’s become more socially acceptable. We’re more comfortable,” said Carsey, 28, a photographer and stay-at-home dad who cares for the couple’s two young daughters.

The Pew study, based on census data, found that the percentage of interracial or interethnic marriages in the U.S. had reached an all-time high of 8.4 percent in 2010, nearly triple the figure of 3 percent in 1980. While black-white marriages are increasing, intermarriage involving Latino and Asian residents of Western states really boosted the numbers.

The Pew polling also shows that 63 percent of Americans “would be fine” with a family member marrying outside his or her own racial or ethnic group, a figure nearly twice as high as a quarter-century ago.

Zhenchao Qian, a sociology professor at Ohio State University who has studied the breakdown of racial boundaries in marriage, said attitudes toward the one-time legal and social taboo have changed.

The Pew study, Qian said, “does suggest people see race as less a barrier when choosing marriageable partners,” which he attributes to increases in educational attainment and more racial integration in workplaces and social settings.

“When you get to interact, to know each other, that really helps,” Qian said. “You don’t see people as that different, and (you) find more common ground.”

Some still frown on mixed marriages, he said, including some who believe that marriage is tough enough without the burden of dealing with racial differences.

When Bess Daniel, 30, of Westerville, married her African-American husband in late 2010, the reaction of some relatives disappointed her.

“I grew up in a white part of rural Ohio, where it was very taboo. There were a couple of my family members who had a problem with it and who didn’t come to our wedding.

“They’ve since turned the corner and realized the color of your skin doesn’t matter,” said Daniel, a benefits specialist and cake decorator whose 39-year-old husband, Christopher, is a middle-school teacher with Columbus City Schools.

She chalks up “the looks” at her family, which includes a 4-week-old and her husband’s two sons from his first marriage, to people “being uneducated.”

“But, I have never experienced being uncomfortable in an interracial marriage. Most of the comments are actually very positive,” Daniel said.

Celeste Chappell-Bates, 49, a flight attendant from the North Side, and her white husband, Brian Bates, 52, are six years into their marriage, of which she jokes: “Our family mascot is the zebra."

She has “seen more acceptance” over the years. “But, there are some people who still stare and this morning, one of my co-workers said that when she was introduced to my husband, she was ‘ surprised.’ ”

Skin color or ethnicity should be no barrier to forming relationships, Chappell-Bates said.

“You open up your options to finding real love if you don’t look at color. If the object is to truly find someone with whom you are compatible, a soul mate to spend your life with, why would you limit your options?”