Q: Is gay marriage a Constitutional, individual right?
A: Yes. Marriage is a form of association. The Constitution protects the right to association. Two human beings have a political right to form any association they see fit, so long as the association is voluntary. A gay marriage is consensual and, though unconventional and highly controversial, can be a loving and satisfying union between two individuals.
I am loath, however, to support the advocates of gay marriage. Most if not all of these gay activists are Hillary-loving proponents of the socialistic welfare state. These gay activists are correct that gay couples do enjoy the right to will property to one another, to have sex with each other, and to run their financial, personal and sexual lives as they see fit. They harm nobody and if this makes some people uncomfortable this is their own problem. However, the gay and lesbian activists are trying to smuggle in a package deal whereby the government will be required to impose regulations on private enterprise to, for example, offer health insurance benefits to the spouses of gay employees. They see gay marriage not as an end in itself, but as a means to the end of expanding our already massive, intrusive welfare-regulatory state. They want the government to force the private sector to do for gays what it has already done for straights–something the government has no business doing for either in the first place.
At the same time, I am equally if not more loath to endorse the proposals of conservatives–for example, to add an amendment to the Constitution declaring that marriage consists of an association between a man and a woman. By what right does the government determine who may or may not form an association, including a romantic union, with another person?
It’s the government’s job to protect the population from physical force and fraud, not to make the world safe for those who oppose homosexuality. The government shouldn’t be involved at all. This is like throwing gasoline on a fire. Leave it to the Bush conservatives to favor expansion of Big Government wherever they can manage to do it. Bush is LBJ when it comes to Medicare benefits and Jerry Falwell when it comes to personal, sexual behavior. Increasingly, he’s the worst of all possible worlds for this country and his deer-caught-in-the-headlights politics on this issue, as on so many others, is growing tiring.
In the end, I find this issue not only tiring but a little amusing. Given the well-documented state of most heterosexual marriages at this point in human history, why on earth would gays want to emulate them? As our economy continues to be throttled by the politicians and as terrorists plan their next attack on us, we fight over gay marriage. People are actually prepared to vote with this as the primary issue? Grow up, America.
