Q: Dr. Hurd, on your article on gay associations, what reasons would you have if a person wanted to have an “association” with a parent, a sibling, a cousin or a minor? Where would you draw the line and what reasoning would you use to make this conclusion of yours?
A: Don’t make this more complicated than it has to be. A person has a legal right to form any association that does not involve fraud or the initiation of physical force.
A minor is not yet capable of determining, for himself, what kind of association he wants and it is appropriate that an adult be prevented from exploiting his ignorance by imposing such an association on him. An association, especially a sexual one, initiated by an adult and imposed on a child is a contradiction in terms and should be illegal. It should be illegal because of its objectively unjust nature.
However, there is nothing objectively unjust about two adults forming a consensual, non-coercive association with each other, including a romantic one even if between two members of the same gender. One cannot rationally argue, “Well, if it’s OK for two men to get married then it must be OK for a man and a boy to get married.” This is preposterous and tantamount to arguing, “Well, if one controversial or unusual arrangement should be legal, then they all should be–merely because they are controversial or unusual.”
Legally and politically, it’s not the controversial or the unusual that should be outlawed. It’s only the initiation of force or fraud that should be outlawed. The moral and psychological dimensions of various human social arrangements can be explored and argued, but should be outside of the political context.
Today, however, our society has become so politicized that everybody wants a government stamp of approval. Instead, everybody should grow up. They should recognize that they do not need and are not entitled to a government stamp of approval, and leave government alone to prosecute fraud, violent offenders and terrorists, as well as uphold legal contracts and associations between consenting adults.
