The Libertarian Case Against Gay Marriage

JUSTIN RAIMONDO WRITING AT THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE makes a completely secular and compelling case against gay marriage. But he goes further by asking why gays would want/need to marry in the first place. In perhaps the most interesting part of the piece, Raimondo traces the history of the gay rights movement, from its inception to its transformation over the past few decades. Very interesting.

Several highlights:

The gay-rights movement took its cues from the civil rights movement, modeling its grievances on those advanced by the moderate wing led by Dr. Martin Luther King and crafting a legislative agenda borrowed from the NAACP and allied organizations: the passage of anti-discrimination laws—covering housing, employment, and public accommodations—at the local and national level. Efforts to institutionalize gay marriage have followed this course, with “equality” as the goal. But the civil rights paradigm never really fit: unlike most African-Americans, lesbians and gay men can render their minority status invisible. Furthermore, their economic status is not analogous—indeed, there are studies that show gay men, at least, are economically better off on average than heterosexuals. They tend to be better educated, have better jobs, and these days are not at all what one could call an oppressed minority. According to GayAgenda.com, “studies show that [gay] Americans are twice as likely to have graduated from college, twice as likely to have an individual income over $60,000 and twice as likely to have a household income of $250,000 or more.” Gays an oppressed minority group? I don’t think so....

....But the legislative agenda of the modern gay-rights movement is not meant to be useful to the gay person in the street: it is meant to garner support from heterosexual liberals and others with access to power. It is meant to assure the careers of aspiring gay politicos and boost the fortunes of the left wing of the Democratic Party. The gay-marriage campaign is the culmination of this distancing trend, the reductio ad absurdum of the civil rights paradigm. The modern gay-rights movement is all about securing the symbols of societal acceptance. It is a defensive strategy, one that attempts to define homosexuals as an officially sanctioned victim group afflicted with an inherent disability, a disadvantage that must be compensated for legislatively.

A compelling, well-done piece worth reading to the end and one I happen to agree with. Gay rights activists have had to manufacture a strident victim status which doesn't fly very well with the majority of the American people.