The Libertarian Case for Gay Marriage

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE AND THE LIBERTARIAN’S DILEMMA
• THE LIBERTARIAN ARGUMENT FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• A LIBERTARIAN CASE FOR LEGALIZG GAY MARRIAGE
• THE LIBERAL SE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• THE LIBERTARIAN CASE FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• HOW SAFE IS GAY MARRIAGE? ADVOT FEAR CREASGLY NSERVATIVE URT
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

GAY MARRIAGE AND THE LIBERTARIAN’S DILEMMA

In what will surely be the two most closely watched s of the 2012-2013 term, the Supreme Court mt answer a qutn that no one would have dared to ask a generatn ago: Do the rtrictns on gay marriage at the state and feral level vlate the Uned Stat Constutn?

THE LIBERTARIAN ARGUMENT FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Wholly apart om the law, there has culturally been a huge sea change popular sentiment the last several months, as many proment personag, om Hillary Clton to Rob Portman, have e forward supportg gay marriage, which now is poised to ga wispread public acceptance.

That solutn answers the ncern that a new legal regime favorg gay marriage will be foisted on an uneasy public by an elist Supreme Court that is unduly swayed by a small and termed factn whose polil fluence is far excs of s social support.

A LIBERTARIAN CASE FOR LEGALIZG GAY MARRIAGE

The imposn of a legal amework on the trite web of relatnships that have prevly existed the realm of eedom—that is, outsi the law and entirely pennt on the tst and pliance of the dividuals volved—would not only be a setback for liberty but a disaster for those supposedly benefs: gay people themselv.

Instead of celebratg their unique inty and history, they unrtook the arid qut for equaly—which meant, practice, battlg “discrimatn” employment and hog, a margal issue for most gay people—and fally takg up the csa for gay marriage. The realy on the ground, however, is a different matter: sce there’s no way to know if one is beg discrimated agast on acunt of one’s prumed sexualy—and sce gays have the choice not to divulge that rmatn— is impossible to be sure if such discrimatn has occurred, short of a “No Gays Need Apply” sign on the door. I was ntent wh this “hold the le” stance, which drew a le the sand between the unnquered terrory of gay relatnships and the ernment-occupied terrory of heterosexual marriage, until I applied to other areas… and to my own life experience.

THE LIBERAL SE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE

While Pecknold go on to give an ontologil-mystil sp to his se agast gay marriage, argug that “this provis the Wt wh an anthropology for unrstandg that future cizens e to the world through the unn of a man and a woman, ” this is easily separable om the rt of his le of thought, which is ntaed the very powerful sentenc:. I spect that there are still strategic reasons for gay-marriage advot to rea om phg for plural marriage; there are numero ratnal arguments agast state endorsement of group marriag; and havg a polygamo marriage regnized and centivized by the state is not a human law should, I thk, allow groups of people to sleep the same hoe, engage group sex, and enter to ntracts or relig arrangements of their likg. But I thk would be impnt to clu their arrangement civil marriage, wh s centivizg benefs, bee if group marriage were to bee normalized and spread beyond a ty ge the nsequenc for society uld be signifint and Polics of Gay Marriage​Gay marriage remas illegal Atralia, most of Asia, Ai, and Oceania, and parts of Europe and Mexi; the most liberal of those untri strike me as the most natural plac for “the next advance” of marriage.

GAY MARRIAGE

I’d urge my fellow gay-marriage proponents to foc their efforts there––and legalizg group marriage Ameri right now would strengthen the hands of gay-marriage opponents abroad, nfirmg slippery-slope arguments that were raised and rejected here.

If ever ma sense to avoid this fight as a matter of polil strategy, still do; if gay marriage was ever a more important prry​ than plural marriage, remas Utilarian Case Agast Group MarriageThe strongt argument agast state-sanctned group marriage is how poorly has worked out for women and low-stat men most tim and plac has been tried.

THE LIBERTARIAN CASE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

And the pot isn’t to ensure that men “feel like” they have an aquate number of partners to choose om–– is to ensure that both genrs do have at least some realistic opportuny to participate the stutn of marriage, the same e that drove so many impassned proponents of gay marriage to broan the stutn. Extendg "marriage' to homosexual upl is agast dive law, but failure to do so vlat our civil law of equal rights, and public opn is, let's dig down a b on those we want to follow Locke's distctn between God's Law (Dive), Man's Law (Civil) and peer prsure (Public Opn), we need to distguish between the partnership sanctified by a Church ("Relig Marriage") and the terpersonal ntract regnized by the State ("Civil Marriage").

HOW SAFE IS GAY MARRIAGE? ADVOT FEAR CREASGLY NSERVATIVE URT

If those who object to gay marriage on relig grounds would be nsistent, then let them also reject the civil privileg of marriage not ntaed the such a time as we uld clearly distguish the two legal terms, however, the civil legal privileg of marriage should be extend to everybody.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

As I will show, certa logil arguments favor of legal regnn of gay marriag n appeal not only to Democrats, but also to libertarians wh the Republin Party – and some arguments might even prove acceptable to relig Polil ContextBefore addrsg the logil aspects of the gay marriage issue, let’s be clear why Republins are divid on this matter. Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn.