In praise of the real solution — abolishing marriage altogether

Last Wednesday, a federal judge in San Francisco struck down California’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, Proposition 8, which voters had approved in a 2008 referendum.

In overturning Prop 8, the presiding judge, Vaughn Walker, marked a historic moment in the struggle for gay rights.

Although the case will likely be heard on appeal by higher courts, Judge Walker’s decision is a testament to the importance of equal protection under the law, which is constitutionally guaranteed to all Americans by the 14th Amendment.

“Proposition 8 cannot withstand any level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause,” Judge Walker wrote in his decision. “Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.”

This decision provides a strong legal foundation for striking down discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

So, although gays should of course have the right to marry just as straights do, should they embrace this institution?

Given the countless flaws in straight tradition, gays should take a hard look at marriage and consider it a superfluous heteronormative ritual that should be rejected.

In the words of “Queer as Folk” character Brian Kinney — the most popular gay TV character of all time — “We’re queer. We don’t need marriage. We don’t need the sanction of dick-less politicians and pederast priests. We fuck who we want to, when we want to.”

Kinney’s rejection of marriage, relationships and love as heteronormative rituals has sparked controversy among the gay community, though his popularity is unassailable.

Described by another character as the “love child of James Dean and Ayn Rand,” Kinney espouses Objectivist philosophy in all aspects of life.

He chooses to satisfy all his desires and impulses, which in turn makes him come off as promiscuous, narcissistic and self-indulgent.

Ignoring these trivial ad hominem attacks, Kinney is the most successful character in the show, despite the fact that he never gets married and never even enters a committed, monogamous relationship.

He embraces sex as a human, biological imperative and sees traditional, monogamous marriage as a denial of human nature. This view has been supported by many famous philosophers in history.

Plato criticized monogamous marriage as an institution that fosters selfishness and feelings of inherent ownership, which fragments community and society.

Instead, he recommended communal marriages and group sex, which would satisfy our biological imperative without enforcing self-indulgence.

The existential philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir argued that marriage, as the joining of free selves in one heading, denies freedom, which is the complete foundation of the self.

Marriage denies freedom, a fundamental human and American value. With this in mind, all people — straight and gay alike — should consider the countless negatives associated with marriage before tying the knot.

In addition, because marital traditions vary so greatly by religion and culture, our country should abolish marriage as a legal contract.

Instead, we should only endow civil unions, which would leave marriage to be defined by the individuals who want to define themselves as married.

Otherwise, following Walker’s logic in his overturning of Prop 8, state governments are also denying polygamists and first cousins their equal right to marry as traditional, straight couples do.

This means we should see federal courts decriminalizing cousin marriages in several states where it is illegal to marry a first cousin.

Do we really want to see that happen? Instead, let’s just abolish marriage as a legal contract and not have to worry about it.


E-mail: yzchaudh@indiana.edu