Why I Oppose Homosexual Marriage

   Republicans and democrats have made a great deal of noise recently about the issue of gay marriage. Several pastors have even crossed over to a more 'tolerant' worldview in what some say is an effort to keep the church relevant to our world. I cannot resist commenting on the magnitude of this break. If Christians take their scriptures seriously, they ought to condemn homosexuality, there can be no denying this. When a religion or any movement suffers from such large internal divisions it must be coming near the end of its cultural and intellectual hegemony.


   But speaking to the point, the national conversation sounds a great deal like conversations in my ninth grade Mississippi Studies class: off topic and often bigoted. From the point of view of a homosexual couple, the system is against them. The heterosexual ruling class does not want to include them in the ranks of the socially respectable. A just criticism of a flawed system.
The first flaw is this: the very assumption that the government exists to create standards for social respectability. Republicans assume that this is one of the tasks of good government yet would never say it was also the role of government to create standards which determine what is or is not socially productive (i.e. interference in the world of business). We may give some credit to President Obama for consistently being on the same side of the issue, that is,  in favor of state regulation of both your marital status and your pocketbook.


   The appropriate policy transcends the stated positions of both parties. Homosexuals should not be prohibited from marrying nor should they be given marriage licenses by the state. In fact, the state should have nothing to do with marriage. In a society where people are free and possess individual rights, it is not within the proper mandate of the government to determine how its people associate with each other. Their should be no state sanctioned marriage simply put. This is true equality for homosexuals and heterosexuals: the freedom to associate with persons of their own choice free from state interference.


  It is important to realize the broader principle at stake here. The issue is not one which affects simply homosexuals. The great evil here is not the oppression of the homosexual class by heterosexual bigots. The issue is government interference in the lives of private citizens. Marriage licenses themselves date back to the European middle ages and gave the church certain powers to prevent or permit marriages. In the U.S., licensing was not employed until the mid to late 19^th century. In the early 20^th century, licenses were a way that states could prevent socially undesirable interracial marriages. Since their inception, marriage licenses have only hampered freedom and individual rights. It is thus with pride that I can say I oppose all government policies which seek to license marriage, homosexual or heterosexual.