I am in an interracial marriage but no one really knows. Perhaps it is a big secret and perhaps it is no big deal. I never realized it myself until someone pointed it out.
My wife was born and raised in Costa Rica and is a full blooded latina. I am considered caucasian and my grandparents immigrated from Sweden and Norway. My wife's ancestors came to Costa Rica from Spain and France over a hundred years ago. Legal documents require that I check off "caucasian" while she must check of "hispanic." Those documents are the only thing that really define us as an interracial marriage.
In reality this difference is ridiculous. Then again, I have always considered racial lines to be silly. What difference does it really make? We can go out to a club and see people throwing inquisitive glances at other interracial couples, but rarely see us in that light. They might not be disapproving glances, but people always notice. A white woman with a black man seem to always get the double take. However, unless we are at a Latin club, we are generally seen as two "white people." My wife may be latina, but her skin is whiter than mine. When she speaks in spanish, people will comment "Where did you learn to speak spanish so well?" I have learned as a result that skin color is what people pay the most attention to.
Here in Florida the blurring of the racial lines is very commonplace from what I have witnessed. Compared to the northeast, where I lived for many years, such coupling is more in the norm. However, stereotypes abound. A white friend of mine who dated an African American girl for a time was often asked a slew of questions revolving around stereotypes. "So, is it true, once you go black you never go back?" He would describe the "difference" as being the same as a guy from New England falling in love with a woman from California. There are differences in culture and attitude, but in the big picture there is no real difference. Everyone is raised differently and exposed to different things, but ancestry has very little to do with what kind of people we become.
It would be a lie to say that there are not cultural differences that are a challenge unless both partners are willing to attempt to understand and relate. Traditions and belief systems differ. Yet, the defining moment for me was watching my conservative uncle and my wife's father, a Costa Rican lawyer, talking the night before our wedding. Even though my uncle speaks no spanish and my wife's father speaks very little english, they had a conversation that established that they were very similar people with similar visions and dreams.
There is no real difference unless we ourselves put it there. There are no real barriers unless we are unwilling to pull down the imaginary ones that have been erected by years of prejudice and stereotyping.