By: Ivy Wisner and Ashley O’Donnell
On October 11, 2009, Libertarian Party interns joined over 150,000
protesters at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. The march
was organized to show support for the LGBT community and came in response
to the Obama administration’s negligent attitude towards gay rights. After
nine months of serving as president, Obama failed to end the
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on banning open homosexuals in the military,
prolonging the ban until 2010 or later. The administration
also ignored the subject of gay marriage as other issues took the
forefront. This leaves liberty-minded individuals wondering how long will
gays be treated as second-class citizens. So far, the Libertarian Party
seems to be the only political party to offer uncompromising solutions to
these issues.
Instead of urging the government to grant same-sex couples the same
benefits as heterosexual married couples, the Libertarian Party advocates
for zero government intervention in personal relationships with the goal
of privatizing marriage. Libertarians maintain that as long as the
government has the power to distribute marriage licenses, it has the power
to define marriage itself. Therefore, the only way to preserve the
greatest amount of freedom for members of the LGBT community is to
regard marriage and other personal relationships as private social
contracts, eliminating the special benefits that are assigned to the
government sanctioned institution. The government should not treat
married people differently from unmarried people.
The official Libertarian Party platform states: “Consenting adults should
be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships.
Government does not have the authority to define, license or restrict
personal relationships.”
The issue of privatization is not often discussed in gay marriage
debates. People frequently look to the government to enact
legislation to secure so-called “endangered” civil liberties, but
the solution which provides the most freedom is one that is separate
from the government. Therefore, it is important to attend protests
such as this, spread the Libertarian philosophy, and recruit new
Libertarians.
