NEW QUESTION!

I have lots more to say (replying to Barry Deutsch; why can prisoners marry?; and more), but the new year deserves a new question, so here it is.

Is marriage a right?

If so, what kind of right is it? We're used to thinking of marriage in rights terms, in part because we're used to thinking of everything in rights terms. But here are a couple things to chew on w/r/t rights-talk in the same-sex marriage debate:

1) If there is a right to marry someone, that right is already in place. Any adult can marry somebody.

2) If there is a right to marry the person you love (barring nonconsensual situations), prohibitions on incestuous marriage would appear to violate that right.

3) Is there a right to marry the only kind of person you could desire sexually? That seems to be the definition that SSM proponents are implying, with, again, the obvious bars to nonconsensual relationships. What this is, then, is a right to societal honor and special treatment for a relationship with the only kind of person you could desire sexually. (And yes--I realize homosexual relationships aren't "just about sex"--but if we're not talking about sex then again, everyone already has the relevant right to marry, since presumably all of us can care for and be committed to members of the opposite sex.)

So: Does this right exist? If so, how come? What's the justification for asserting this right? If not, is there some other right to marry that would explain, e.g., why it's wrong to ban miscegenation, or prohibit prisoners from marrying?
posted by Eve at 8:39 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home