Topic: Gay Rights
Gay marriage California Supreme Court issues Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi permission slip The Supreme Court of California last week said it is okay for gay partners to marry each other. Thats nice, but what if we all just stopped asking Daddy Government for permission to live our lives as we see fit? What business does government have in your relationship anyway?by Jeremy West
(libertarian)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Supreme Court of California last week said it is okay for gay partners to marry each other. That's nice, but what if we all just stopped asking Daddy Government for permission to live our lives as we see fit? What business does government have in your relationship anyway?
For that matter, why must you ask government for a permission slip to start a business, to immigrate, to own land, to build a house on your land, to go fishing or hunting, to own a gun, to own a pet, etc? The list goes on and on.
Licenses are a waste of time and money. They are just another way for the blue-light gang to get their grubby hands on your hard-earned cash.
From whom does government derive its authority to decide who can marry whom? Freedom means being free to do as you choose as long as you do not harm others. Hippocrates put it this way, "Do no harm." Muhammed said, "Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you." Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Karl Popper said, "Do unto others, wherever possible, as they want to be done by." Google said, "Don't be evil."
I'm sorry, but no one can claim that my two aunts (my father's sister and her wife) marrying each other and living as a happily married couple for the last 13 years has done anyone a bit of harm. And they asked no one's permission to be married. It's time heterosexual couples begin to follow their lead.
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The only problem I have is with any group seeking "granted rights" based upon a particular classification status. Rights are based solely upon being an individual and this seeking of approval based upon either a minority status or some special classification simply caters to the government's power to either grant or deny such "granted rights".
We must move beyond this majoritarian view of rights based upon contingency qualifications and move toward natural rights based upon being an individual.
I've known many gay people and they are not looking for "special" rights, they just want to be able to live the way most people take for granted. They are seeking equal status. The arguments I hear against gay marriage are usually faith based, but there are churches already willing to marry gay couples which leaves the question of legality. As long as the government has the power to grant liscences for marriage to straight couples why withhold permission from gay couples? In a free society there should be no restriction on any consensual relationship, including bigamy and polygamy in my opinion, and when it comes to homosexual marriage there is a restriction on their right of free association. The argument for states not having to honor these marriages outside where they are permitted is absurd since a heterosexual civil union is respected as a marriage in every state in the country no matter what state you took your vows in! We cannot entertain the idea of liberty if we allow people to be treated as second class citizens. The sooner we get the government out of marriage on the whole, the better off we'll be!
Gay couples should be allowed to marry. When 2 people find one another and want to marry, there is no sane reason why they should be denied this right. Why do poeple feel gay people are so different, that they have the right, to deny this to them?
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