Liberty and Marriage Equality

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #15

To Libertarians, the 14th Amendment dictates that people should not be discriminated against due to their race, religion, gender, place of origin or sexual orientation. The first successful case under this Constitutional amendment was made for racial equality, then for gender equality, and now it should be made for sexual orientation, which is now in the form of marriage equality. This means that the Constitution dictates that, among other things, two adults should be able to receive the governmental benefits of being married if they have entered into voluntary legally-binding contracts to do so. In fact, historically that was the situation in our country until some legislators passed anti-miscegenation laws, and used marriage licenses as their means to control inter-racial marriages.

Actually, the government should not be involved in the licensing business for two adults getting married at all. But as long as numbers of federal and state statutes remain on the books providing benefits for people who are “married,” those laws should be applied equally – as a matter of Constitutional law. Of course, if any religious institutions do not wish for the couple to get married under their banner, they would have every right to withhold it, and even not to recognize the union. But the government, as a matter of Liberty for all, should have no such power.