Gay Marriage Goes to The Supreme Court – What Libertarians Say

Once again the debate is on the table regarding gay marriage because the majority has squashed the rights of the minority (the minority not just being gays but the 16 states left who favor gay marriage). This time the debate will happen in U.S. Supreme Court. all because once again the majority is being allowed to legally show brutal disdain to the minority. Legally !! Unbelievable !! We still haven’t learned our lessons to look out for the minority so they won’t get crushed. 16 states have given rights that legally bind gay couples who have come together and the only way those agreements can be binding is that they MUST remain in the state that they were married. We can marry in Massachusetts but our legal arrangement with the state will only be honored there. Our marriage means nothing Michigan. So much for land of the free. Thank you America. You are clearly showing what “freedom” means to you.

The truth is there are really not even 16 states that gays can actually have the legal rights of marriage in. There are only 9, Conneticut, Iowa, Main Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington , the District of Columbia and finally New York . The other 7 are simply civil union, domestic partnership allowances . California gays fought a very hard fight for gay marriage but lost the battle when Prop 8 was instituted. They later had a rematch when a the federal court found it to be unconstitutional. That court ruling is being repealed and awaiting a ruling now by the U.S. Supreme Court. Wow!! Somebody really hates the idea of gay people being allowed the freedom to marry.

So ….either today (Friday) or Monday, the Supreme Court is going to look at some of the things that have gone on with the issue so they can determine how to move on. 1 state is petitioning them to determine whether the over turning of prop 8 was legal . 8 states are petitioning them to determine whether DOMA -The Defense of Marriage Act put in by President Clinton is constitutional (and the gay community sees this man as a champion for gay rights. Yet he along with the Democratic Party instituted the very bill that federally confirms all gay marriages null and void. I understand why the gay community at large doesn’t support the Republican party but I’m not getting this great love at all for the Democrat party when no Democrat President has ever DONE anything to support gay marriage. Libertarians have supported gay marriage since its inception).

At any rate the Supreme Court is scheduled for a pre-hearing to determine which of the 10 petitions set before them they will look at OR … if gays that are already legally married should have federal rights as gay couples. If the repeal to the over ruling of Prop 8 is thrown out, its been been said the ruling could be huge and thereby either overturn anti-amendments all around the country or go as far a ruling out all gay marriages that have been deemed legal. Its hard to imagine either way. The hearing coming up today or Monday is only to determine which of the marriage issues the U.S. Supreme Court will entertain, Which ever one is decided will then be the topic of Supreme Court discussion sometime around March 2013.

My libertarian take – First let me say this: Libertarianism is all about the individual rights we all individually have as humans. As a libertarian I stand behind everybody’s individual right to believe whatever they want to about marriage. If a person is against gay marriage they have that right to be against it and not support it. Thats what liberty is all about … being free as an individual to believe whatever you desire. In the same way however that a person has a right to be against it, people should also have the right to favor it BUT when laws are made that don’t not allow people to favor it, it infringes on their individual rights. This is not simply about marriage rghts its about all of our INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS . You don’t have to allow a gay couple in your house. You can be against it. Your church has the right to preach against it . Thats what freedom of religion is all about.Thats YOUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHT. Your church should not have the right however to stop another church from favoring it. Thats THEIR INDIVIDUAL RIGHT. You can call that church a heresy or whatever you’d like. Thats YOUR RIGHT However in the same way you have the right not to endorse it, others should also have the right TO endorse it and to legally deny that right, takes away THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS of others. The Lord never denied Adam the right to choose what he wanted, even though he disagreed with Adams choice. He did not intervene and we should follow his example. Keep in mind: If you take away someones individual rights trust and believe …their going to come after you and successfully take away rights you currently enjoy. “Whatsover a man soweth that shall he also reap”.

This country was founded on freedom, actually freedom of religion as those who came here came so that could practice what they believed in, which was not allowed where they came from. That kind of freedom should still be allowed. Denying individuals freedoms to believe and practice what THEY believe (especially wen they are not harming others) is not what this country is all about.

Libertarianism is not about fighting for the rights of gays but about fighting to keep INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS FOR ALL.

Celebrating the 1st Anniversary of The Repeal of DADT – A Christian Libertarians View on Gays in the Military

Today was the 1st anniversary of the military law of D.A.D.T. (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) being repealed. DADT was initially instituted by the Clinton administration in 1993 to keep the military from booting people out of it who were known to be gay. The thinking was that if the military couldn’t ask and gays didn’t tell , those who were gay could not be booted out because no one would know. The problem is, keeping it from public knowledge would mean you could be gay in the military but would have to remain closeted. If gays were in gay marriages they couldn’t be known. If they frequented gay places (clubs ect) it couldn’t be known, and straight people who who didn’t want to serve next to gays would never know because with DADT it was not to be revealed. If it were ..someone could get the boot. Democrats set this up, Republicans were determined to keep it going and after almost 20 years of Democrats instituting this descriminating policy they were finally coaxed into withdrawing it and September 20th 2011 it was finally repealed.

Libertarians in office and libertarians running have fought Congress tooth and nail for this repeal for years because Libertarians are all about standing up for individual liberties, where everyone is allowed to live their lives the way they want without government interference as long as the way the individual lives does not hurt or effect anyone else. DADT was wrong because it effected gays in several ways. They couldn’t share about their proud family lives as other men and women in the military were able to share. They could not introduce their partners to others they served with, the way that others could. They had to be secretive about where they were spending their time off duty, and always ran the risk of being discovered, ridiculed and ultimately booted out. With DADT finally being repealed, they are free and “the boot” could not happen, at least not because they were gay.

Of course a lot of people (even some Libertarians) were upset when DADT was repealed last year because they say that it endorses a chosen “life style that they don’t agree with”. A lot of gay people would argue thats its not something thats chosen and I agree. But let’s just say for this discussion that it IS chosen. Is it right to take away someones right to choose what they want? For those who believe in the bible, you KNOW that God doesn’t take away freedom of choice. He specifically told Adam and Eve, for instance, that he didn’t want them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but even though he disagreed he placed it there FOR THEM TOO CHOOSE. He could have just not created the tree, and flat out JUST TOOK AWAY THEIR RIGHT TO CHOOSE in the same way that DADT took away people choices to live openly, but He didn’t. He let them choose. God always says ” I set before you life AND death, blessing AND cursing; therefore CHOOSE life that both you and your seed shall live. (Duet 30.19). More than anybody, believers should endorse everybody’s right to choose EVEN if they think the choice is a bad one, because God endorses choice. Libertarians believe in every individuals right to choose as well, as along as their choices don’t hurt or interfere with anyone else’s life. With DADT being repealed the choice for gays to live openly and honestly is now an option, before it wasn’t

In the fight for getting DADT repealed, 1000 military soldiers signed a letter claiming that repealing it would have a lot of negative outcomes.  However, one year later a study has just been published by “Palm Center” a research branch of the Williams Institute at University of California Los Angeles Law School, and it found that there has been “no overall negative impacts” at all in the military aas a result of the repeal. I believe those fears were there because there are so many negative stereo types promoted of what a gay person is, and how he or she generally acts, that their ability to be effective soldiers in military was totally being overshadowed. One proof that gays are just as effective in the  military as anyone else is seeing Army Colonel Tammy Smith who was promoted to Brigadier General. She was one of the first to come out as gay since the repeal last year. She’s gay and made it all the way to General yawl !! Had the law not been in effect she would have never come out and had she revealed it just 1 year earlier, she would have never been promoted even though she was found well qualified. Congratulations General Smith.

So Happy Repeal Day to everybody and to all of you who are libertarian and the libertarian minded, keep fighting for individual freedoms. Vote for your local Libertarians. Vote for our libertarian candidate for president Gary Johnson…and whether he makes it or not remember he and the rest of us are out here all out here fighting so there will be liberty and justice for all.

Thousands Forced Out of Marriage And Neither Presidential Candidate Says Anything. -A Libertarian Response to Gay Marriage

Governor Romney is VERY clear that he will do nothing to stop gays from being forced out of marriage and while President Obama says he’s supportive of marriage equality, he has been pretty clear that he, just like Gov. Romney, will do nothing as well to institute it . He says” let each state decide”. That in turn means ‘ whatever each state decides, I’m good with it. If Michigan wants to force gays out, they can I don;t care’. Yet Democrats are backing away from him because he has expressed support for gay marriage, even though he’s stands behind every state that votes to reject it. What kind of support is that. Its risky for his campaign yet it appears clever in that it “says” to the gay community ..” I support” yet he has done nothing or has even expressed on record any kind plan to do anything at all.

There are plenty of things he could do if he was really supportive of gay marriage. He could approach it from the federal end and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which he hasn’t. He could see that a policy is instituted that would protect the rights of ALL to marry around the country instead of the rights of one party or one special interest group. You don’t have to believe in gay marriage to do that. You can say “I don’t believe in gay marriage but its a free country and I won’t stand in the way or pass any laws against of those people who do”.

The Defense of Marriage Act is cohercive and forces gays out of rights and benefits in marriage that are now given only to a select group and right now about 37 states are still passing laws that force gays out. A President who has no plan to do anything about , is simply saying ..”Oh well, they’ll just have to deal with it”. Thats a person who doesn’t care at all about liberty or rights of individuals, and thats a clear description of both major presidential candidates. Thats why neither of them has done nothing to deserve my vote.

I believe in “live and let live” and thats the libertarian way. I could only vote for a candidate who believes in that as well, a candidate that has a plan to stand up to support the individual rights of all. The only person I see like that is the Presidential Candidate of the 3rd largest party in America, Libertarian nominee for President, Gary Johnson .

In one article that I read he said ”People of different faiths and different beliefs are free to follow those beliefs when it comes to embracing or opposing same-sex marriage within those faiths and beliefs. However, it should not be the purview of government to impose one set of beliefs over another. And government absolutely should not sanction discrimination against gay Americans who choose to marry.”

Thats my position as well. I have the utmost respect for those who promote that they believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. I cannot respect those however, who make laws that STOP OTHER PEOPLE BY LAW from promoting what THEY believe as well. They want their beliefs respected in the constitution, but they don;t want others to have the same respect. Its the same kind of kind of religious hypocrisy that Jesus railed about that the Pharisees and Saducee’s displayed when he walked here. Jesus was vehemently against that kind of religiousity and I stand against it too.

Just an opinion of a new libertarian