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April 03, 2005
Leaving people alone (for the umpteenth time . . .)
What do you do after you've won one of the most important Supreme Court cases in decades and shoved the state, kicking and screaming, out of your bedroom? Apparently, you beg the government to walk right back in. "The Marriage Revolution" has arrived, and homosexuals are the unlikely heroes of the quest to revive a fading institution. A controversial essay by Megan McArdle (linked by Glenn Reynolds) has to be the most thorough and dispassionate exploration of the possible pitfalls of same sex marriage I've seen to date. It's well worth spending time to read the whole thing, along with all the comments. (Especially those from Sean Kinsell.) I have to admit that I'm more than a little burned out on the subject, and over the years I've had so many pointless arguments that I just don't enjoy talking about it anymore. Megan McArdle is right: ideologues on both sides have long since made up their generally narrow minds. All I can say is I'm just glad gay marriage wasn't there when I was young and having fun. As I have said many times in this blog, the gay lifestyle, while it isn't always a bohemian one, it often is. Certainly in my case, I loved the fact that if I was in a gay relationship, no one could tell me what to do. And culturally, who would? Certainly not the families of lovers. (Whether you call them "virtual in laws" or whatever.) All I ever asked was tolerance of the "leave me alone" variety. The idea of being hauled into "Family Court" is outrageous in itself to anyone who wants to live his life outside the radar. And make no mistake about it: once there is gay marriage, there will be gay alimony, gay palimony and above all, legal jurisdiction of family courts over the lives of many people who didn't want that and don't need it. Blackmail could take on new dimensions. There really isn't anything I could add to this essay, which pretty well covers my thinking on the subject. Excerpt: How could I -- a libertarian, someone who believes in maximizing human freedom -- possibly object to gay marriage? Wouldn't this simply allow homosexuals the same rights allowed everybody else?You'd think people would have learned that government-granted "rights" often carry with them onerous obligations. No one wants to hear from those who seek neither. posted by Eric on 04.03.05 at 08:59 PM
Comments
I guess it never occurred to them that marriage is by its nature a LIMITATION on rights. I'm not saying it's akin to slavery (although in some places it is), but to argue that its absence is analogous to slavery is absurd. However, I am not impressed by the "monkey-see, monkey-do" nature of some of the arguments against same sex marriage. (One could make them with equal force against allowing open homosexuality.) Eric Scheie · April 4, 2005 08:11 AM hey, thanks. I've always had a gut dislike and even abhorence of gay marriage but never really understood why. you've explained it. Legalized gay marriage WOULD put us under pressure to get married. Goodbye lots of freedoms! Yuck. I'm going to fight it even more now! tim · April 4, 2005 01:30 PM |
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You're too kind, my friend. There are lots of interesting things being said in that thread. I'm especially glad that people are giving a serious flaying to the idea that gay marriage would be like the end of slavery, which has to be one of the stupidest things I've heard in my life.