Gabbi was speechless. A girl had just told her that she shouldn’t be dating her boyfriend, Bryce. But her reason why was what made Gabbi cringe.

“I had an African-American girl come to me and get mad at me because I was dating a mixed guy,” she said. “They say that I’m taking him away from them.”

Gabbi is white. Bryce’s mother (who is deceased) was black, and his father is white. And sometimes people give the two a hard time about dating.

The two first became friends when Bryce went over to Gabbi’s to help her with her chemistry. They grew closer over the next few months and eventually started dating. A year and three months later, far longer than most high school relationships last, Gabbi and Bryce are still dating. But the two are different from most at school; they’re an interracial couple.

While some people, usually older men, stare at them when they’re out on dates, Gabbi and Bryce don’t see each other differently. Bryce grew up in Chicago, where, he says, people are more accepting of interracial relationships.

“Being down here [in Texas] is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with some people being uneasy about it,” Bryce said. “It’s pretty different, and sometimes I don’t know how to react to that. But I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s just different.”

Gabbi, on the other hand, grew up in a Southern Baptist family. She knew that when she started dating Bryce her family might judge their relationship. Gabbi’s parents are divorced, and while it took her dad some time to accept it, her mom and grandmother were always okay with the two dating.

“My mom is very liberal and she’s always been super accepting of anyone of any color, of any religion,” Gabbi said. “I think her being so democratic helped me to stay away from super racist kinds of things.”

The girl who told Gabbi she shouldn’t be dating Bryce is one of the incidents that comes to mind as having to deal with racist issues. Bryce said that some people treat dating outside your race as a type of betrayal.

“Sometimes people of your own race think that you’re going against them if you date someone who is not that race,” Bryce said.

Some people think that Gabbi could do better than Bryce simply because he’s biracial. They judge who she is dating based on his race, not his personality.

“I think one of the things for me is that I do get judged personally as a white girl dating a black guy,” Gabbi said. “They think I have low standards.”

“I would approach those who would question Bryce and [say that] God says in the Bible that everyone is created equally,” Gabbi said. “That’s what everyone should live by. He’s no more or less, and his sins are no more or less than mine or yours.”

Bryce said that he learned a lot from his parents. His mother was the most polite and well-mannered person he knew. He knows that often people will assume African-American boys are troublemakers, but he said his parents made sure he and his siblings were raised to be the best people they could be, despite the stereotypes against them.

“There are some black people out there that I shake my head at because of the way they act,” Bryce said. “I never acted that way. I don’t even know what it’s like, so that’s why Gabbi and I have gotten along from the get-go. It’s pretty much the same thing, just different color.”

Both said they feel like their relationship is stronger because they’ve managed to defy the stigmas that come with being an interracial couple. They use people’s negativity as a motivator to prove them wrong.

“They might have a problem with it at first, but they’re going to have to get over it because it’s going to happen,” Bryce said. “It’s not just us that are dating.”

Gabbi thinks it’s sad that some people have to go through a learning process to be able to accept facts like her and Bryce’s relationship. But she said she feels that interracial couples have come a long way since 20 or 30 years ago. In fact, all of their friends think that they are a great couple.

“He comes to my lacrosse games, and everyone’s so jealous saying, ‘Aww, y’all are so cute,’” Gabbi said. “I go to his golf tournaments, and the guys he’s playing with say, ‘Dude, she’s a keeper’ because I always bring a cooler for him.”

To them, being black or white doesn’t really matter. Sure, some people will judge them. But they know that they just have to make people see that they aren’t any different from any other couple.