T he gay marriage issue shouldn’t be anyone’s business except the two people involved.

“Why do people – gay or straight – need the state’s permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn’t, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents’ agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity.”

It wasn’t until modern times (the late 1800s) that the state began to dictate the terms of marriage, Coontz explained. In the 1950s, she added, the state used the “marriage license as a shorthand way to distribute benefits and legal privileges.” But these days, with so many prevalent family situations and obligations, a marriage license no longer is the easiest way to sort out financial and familial obligations. The easiest way to sort out such matters is through private contracts, not by having the state impose one particular vision of marriage on everyone.

Ironically, conservative and liberals have very inconsistent positions on this issue.

Conservatives, who claim to believe in states’ rights, are promoting federal bans on same-sex marriages. Liberals, who tend to favor federal solutions, are claiming that pro-gay-marriage states such as Massachusetts have the right to set their own marriage terms.

Read it all:  Get the State Out of Marriage by Steven Greenhut