DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): We have some brand-new numbers tonight about the way we live and marry in this country. 45 years of the US Supreme Court struck down a ban on interracial marriage, young Americans are changing the look of the American family with a dramatic increase in interracial marriage. ABC's Linsey Davis has the news tonight.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): This new data from the Pew Research Center just might support the idea that love really is color-blind.
PAUL TAYLOR (EXECUTIVE VP AT PEW RESEARCH CENTER): As the country has become more diverse, kind of old taboos and old biases, if you will, have melted away. We see this very clearly in particular among younger adults.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): And it's those in their 20s and 30s who are most accepting of interracial dating and marriage.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): About one in six couples who got married in 2010 were across racial lines. In 1980, only 3% of marriages were interracial. It all started with Mildred and Richard Loving, who got married in 1958, only to be arrested five weeks later because she was black and he was white.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): "The Loving Story" debuted this week on HBO, about the landmark case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
ATTORNEY (MALE): That is the right of Richard and Mildred loving to wake up in the morning or to go to sleep at night knowing that the sheriff will not be knocking on their door.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): In 1967, the justices ruled in favor of ending race-based legal restrictions on marriage. And that same year...
SIDNEY POITIER (ACTRESS): Mom, this is John.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): Sidney Poitier starred in this groundbreaking drama, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," about a parents' acceptance of an interracial couple. And now, nearly 50 years later?
PAUL TAYLOR (EXECUTIVE VP AT PEW RESEARCH CENTER): It's clearly a case where the behavior and the attitude reinforce each other. So, the more commonplace racial intermarriage becomes, the more accepting the public becomes.
LINSEY DAVIS (ABC NEWS)(VO): The boundaries of marriage are clearly changing, no longer quite so black and white. Linsey Davis, ABC News, New York.