Căsătoriile între persoane de acelaşi sex. O perspectivă libertariană
Same-sex Marriages: a Libertarian Perspective

Summary/Abstract: Parties in the debate over legalizing gay marriage share one cast of mind: that the state is the proper institution to define the status of marriage by a one-size-fits–all formula. The libertarian solution to the problem is to deny that assumption and transfer the prerogative of sanctioning and enforcing unions to a set of competing autonomous civil organizations, lay or religious. For the case in question, economic analysis of law and public choice insights show why a libertarian favored system that first allows a diversity of unions and only rules out those that are eventually proved in a Court to be too injurious to third parties, seems less biased against gay marriages than the status-quo. It would serve better the values of liberty, equality, justice, and also satisfy the conservative insistence on close congruity between community acceptance and legal treatment. For the explosion of the definitional case against gay marriage to the effect that it is impossible for gays to “marry”, special philosophical attention is given to the natural and legitimate way in which words gain new meanings. The slippery slope objection according to which marriage liberalization legally opens the door to polygamy and matrimonial unions with animals or inanimate objects is formally sustained; it is however practically weakened due to the special psychological value that only symmetrical relationships seem to have to people.

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