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The State of Michigan admits it intends to regulate sexual relationships

Many of my Libertarian friends are agnostic toward the idea of legislating same-sex marriage because they see this as extending the State's power to license another form of marriage while they would rather have the State completely out of the business of marriage all together.

Me, too, but ...

The reality is that not only do states use existing marriage status to deny legal benefits to same-sex couples, they also--quite consciously--use existing marriage laws to regulate sexual behavior.

Don't believe me?  Just check out the latest brief filed by the State of Michigan in opposition to marriage equality.

It does not get much plainer than this — 
One of the paramount purposes of marriage in Michigan--and at least 37 other states that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman--is, and always has been, to regulate sexual relationships between men and women so that the unique procreative capacity of such relationships benefits rather than harms society. 
And there you have it.  The State asserts its power (states cannot have rights) to police your bedroom via marriage legislation.

As such, marriage equality legislation necessarily reduces the State's power "to regulate sexual relationships," and is therefore something which (I suggest) Libertarians should support.

Comments

mynym said…
Ironically the original purpose of marriage licensing in America was racist. External source: ...the state increased control over marriages, primarily to prohibit interracial marriages by issuing marriage licenses. By the 1920s, some 38 other states had issued similar laws in an effort to keep the white race "pure." Virginia's Racial Integrity Act (RIA) of 1924 made it illegal for mixed-race couples to marry. The RIA remained law until 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared Virginia's ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional. ehow.com Because even if they can't articulate it, everyone knows that a real integration of the races and a race blind society is possible through sex and family.

The attributes of mothering and fathering are inherent parts of sex differentiation that paves the way to reproduction. This is where the sociology analogy so often drawn between race and sex breaks down in the most fundamental sense. Genetic assimilation is possible through interracial mating, and we can envisage a society that is color blind. But genetic assimilation of male and female is impossible, and no society will be sex-blind.
(American Sociological Review, Vol. 49, No.
1, Feb., 1984.
Gender and Parenthood
By Alice S. Rossi :10)
The Last Ephor said…
I see. So are unwed mothers to be jailed? Will there merely be a fine for an unwed father?

Will the parties attached to the State's case be subject to such scrutiny?

Anonymous said…
Alice Rossi....there's a unbiased opinion...please
Anonymous said…
God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
GG. said…
The blog is really great!
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