Libertarian perspectives on LGBT rights

The libertarian perspective on LGBT rights illustrates how libertarian individuals and Libertarian Parties have applied the libertarian philosophy to the subject of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender/transsexual - collectively LGBT - rights.

United States LGBT Libertarians

The Libertarian Party's position on LGBT rights has remained unchanged since it was created in 1972. In 1975, Ralph Raico, helped to create the "Libertarian For Gay Rights" caucus within the party, and subsequently published "Gay Rights: A Libertarian Approach".

The second LGBT rights organization to operate from a libertarian perspective was the Libertarians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns. The organization held its first national convention in 1985, and sought to promote libertarianism to LGBT Americans. [ [http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/apap212.htm Walter Wheeler ] ]

During the 1980s, the organization was affiliated with the Libertarian Party of the United States. [ [http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/librarylocations/main/glc/glcarchival.htm#glc15 Gay and Lesbian Center - GLBT Archival Collections - SFPL.org ] ] One of its activities was the production a lavender pamphlet, to distribute at gay pride events, that explained the libertarian perspective on LGBT rights. Some of the libertarian views mentioned in the brochure are the following:

* Repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual acts between adults (with the age of consent reasonably defined). This would include abolition of laws prohibiting prostitution and solicitation, whether gay or straight.
* Repeal of legislation prohibiting unions between members of the same sex, and the extension to such unions of all legal rights and privileges presently enjoyed by partners in heterosexual marriages.
* An end to the use of loitering statutes and entrapment procedures as a means of harassing gays and prostitutes.
* An end to the collection by government agencies of data on the sexual preferences of individuals.
* Elimination of regulations specifying homosexuality as a justification for denying or revoking state licenses (for doctors, lawyers, teachers, hairdressers, etc.).
* Repeal of laws prohibiting cross-dressing.
* Recognition of the right of a homosexual parent to be considered for custody of his or her natural child, and of the child to choose the homosexual parent as guardian.
* Elimination of laws specifying homosexuality as grounds for denying the right of adoption.
* Equality of treatment of gay people in regard to government service, including particularly membership in the armed forces.
* End the usage of zoning and loitering laws to harass gay people and gay-owned businesses.
* Equal treatment for gay immigrants.
* End government sanctioned closing of gay bathhouses.

The brochure then went onto explain that libertarians opposed efforts to prohibit private sector discrimination because people have the right to be wrong, and that peaceful persuasion was the better method to deal with prejudice than civil rights legislation.

In the 1990s this organization was joined by the classical liberal-libertarian LGBT rights organization called the Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty. [http://www.glil.org/ Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty ] ] As of 2007, the LGLC have a mailing address [ [http://www.boogieonline.com/revolution/politics/orgs.html revolution: libertarian groups ] ] and the GLIL web page has not been updated since 2003.

The active LGBT Libertarian organization is the Outright Libertarians. Founded in 1998, the organization is also affiliated with the Libertarian Party of the United States and takes many of the same position that the Libertarians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns did in the 1980s.

United States Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party of the United States takes the following positions on LGBT rights: [ [http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee ] ]

* Repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act and state laws and amendments defining marriage. Oppose any new laws or Constitutional amendments defining terms for personal, private relationships. Repeal any state or federal law assigning special benefits to people based on marital status, family structure, sexual orientation or gender identification. Repeal any state or federal laws denying same-sex partners rights enjoyed by others, such as adoption of children and spousal immigration. [ [http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml#sexgend Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee ] ]

* End the Defense Department practice of discharging armed forces personnel for sexual orientation. Upgrade all less-than-honorable discharges previously assigned solely for such reasons to honorable status, and delete related information from military personnel files. [ [http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml#sexgend Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee ] ]

* [A] private employer screens prospective or current employees via questionnaires, polygraph tests, urine tests for drugs, blood tests for AIDS, or other means, this is a condition of that employer's labor contracts. Such screening does not violate the rights of employees, who have the right to boycott such employers if they choose.

* Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships. Government does not have legitimate authority to define or license personal relationships. Sexuality or gender should have no impact on the rights of individuals.

* Criminal laws should be limited to violation of the rights of others through force or fraud, or deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Individuals retain the right to voluntarily assume risk of harm to themselves in the exercise of free choice.

* While we do not advocate private discrimination, we do not support any laws which attempt to limit or ban it. The right to trade includes the right not to tradendash for any reasons whatsoever; the right of association includes the right not to associate, for exercise of this right depends upon mutual consent. [ [http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/NoLibert.HTM Why I am not a Libertarian ] ]

* Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs, without interference by government, unless they are abusing the children. We recognize that the determination of child abuse can be very difficult. Only local courts should be empowered to remove a child from his or her home, with the consent of the community. This is not meant to preclude appropriate action when a child is in immediate physical danger.

U.S. Republicans and Libertarians

Several gay Republicans or conservatives will often make libertarian arguments when writing about LGBT rights. Andrew Sullivan, the Log Cabin Republicans and the Independent Gay Forum often advocate for LGBT issues in a way that illustrates some common ground between American conservatives and libertarians.Fact|date=March 2008

For example, writers at the Independent Gay Forum endorsed the Libertarian Party and LGBT Libertarian organization's position that the Boy Scouts of America should be free to exclude gay men as scouts and scoutmasters on the grounds that the government has no right to interfere with private organizations' views on homosexuality. [ [http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/26796.html Independent Gay Forum - Scouting for Answers ] ] .Likewise, the Log Cabin Republicans have endorsed the libertarian perspective in opposing federal hate crime legislation. [ [http://online.logcabin.org/issues/defendconstitution.html Defending the Constitution ] ]

Yet, such conservative LGBT organizations also differ with the libertarian perspective. One example is The Log Cabin Republicans' support of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. [ [http://online.logcabin.org/issues/protecting_gay_and_lesbian_families.html Protecting Gay & Lesbian Families ] ]

U.S. Democrats and Libertarians

The Libertarian Party and LGBT Libertarian organizations have common ground with Democrats on issues such as Separation of Church and State and free speech. [ [http://www.lp.org/issues/issues.shtml Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee ] ]

There is a libertarian organization within the Democratic Party, called the Democratic Freedom Caucus. The blog, The Daily Kos, launched a "libertarian Democrat" movement, an effort by liberal Democrats to reach out to libertarians (and Libertarian Party members) on areas of perceived common ground, including support of civil liberties and support for equal treatment for LGBT people under the law. [ [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/7/131550/7297 Daily Kos: The Libertarian Dem ] ]

U.S. State Libertarian Party Chapters

In 1992 conservative activists in Colorado placed Amendment 2 on a statewide ballot. The amendment would have prohibited the local or state government from passing civil rights legislation, including laws regarding gays and lesbians. [ [http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_laws7.htm Colorado's Amendment 2 against gays, lesbians & bisexuals ] ] As this amendment would have included the private and public sector, the Colorado Libertarian Party did not take a position on the amendment because the party does not believe the government has the right to dictate what a private organization can and can not do in regards to views on sexual orientation. The amendment was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 1996.

In 2000 the Vermont Supreme Court ordered the state to provide civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to the legalization of gay marriage. The court ruling prompted the lone Libertarian legislator in Vermont, Neil Randall, to side with the conservatives that made an unsuccessful attempt to impeach the justices for their ruling. The Vermont Libertarian Party endorsed civil unions [ [http://www.vtlp.org/ Vermont Libertarian Party ] ] and revoked its previous endorsement of the state legislator who went on to be elected as a Republican. [ [http://www.freestateproject.org/archives/state_reports/vermont2 State Report VT 2: Second Vermont Report [ Free State Project - Liberty in Our Lifetime ] ]

In 2001 California voters passed a ballot measure that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The California Libertarian Party officially opposed the ballot initiative, and supports both homosexual and heterosexual marriage. [ [http://ca.lp.org/preleases.shtml Libertarian Party of California ] ] However, at least one journalist has noted that many of its nominated candidates supported the ballot measure.Fact|date=March 2008

Costa Rica

In 2005 the pragmatic faction of the Costa Rica Libertarian Party (Movimiento Libertario) sponsored a bill to ban legal recognition of same-sex marriage. [Jorge, [http://www.sunnimaravillosa.com/archives/00000384.html Movimiento Libertario, Not a movement, Not libertarian] , June 28, 2005.] Verify credibility|date=September 2008 The party supports a proposed ban on gays, lesbians or bisexuals adopting children. [Georgina Roberts, [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5524.html Costa Rica considers law to prevent gay adoption] , September 21, 2007.]

France

The Liberal Alternative party proclaims, "We wish to make marriage a private affair, whether religious or not, composed simply of two consenting adults, without regard for sex, and with no further obligation beyond going to the local magistrate/city hall to notify the state about the union. This form of civil union would replace the PACS symbolically. Recognition of marriage is, of course, possible.")citequote|date=September 2008

New Zealand

Libertarianz state in their platform that the party "fully supports the concept of a civil union and would also support allowing marriages between same sex couples, and indeed polygamous marriages or marriages between people who are already related—in all cases as long as all parties are adults and consenting." [ [http://www.libertarianz.org.nz/?policy=civil_unions Libertarianz - Civil Unions ] ] This differs from the platform of the Libertarian Party in the United States in regards to polygamy and incest.

ee also

* Liberalism worldwide
* Outright Libertarians
* Objectivism, Ayn Rand, and homosexuality

References

External links

*Official Libertarian Party position on LGBT equality
**Current Sexuality and Gender plank of national platform [http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml#sexgend]
*LBGT libertarians
**Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty [http://www.glil.org]
**Outright Libertarians [http://www.outrightusa.org/]
**Independent Gay Forum [http://www.indegayforum.org/]
**Libertarians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns 1981 - 1987 [http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8j49n9nz]
*Gay Republicans That Invoke Libertarian Principles
**Lavender But Not Pink [http://lavenderbutnotpink.com/gclinks.html]
* [http://www.stonewall-az-libertarians.info/content/Raico%20booklet%20on%20Gay%20Rights.pdf Gay Rights: A Libertarian Approach] , PDF version of the 1975 pamphlet by Ralph Raico.
* [http://outrightlibertarians.blogspot.com/2007/03/setting-record-straight.html Outright Libertarians response to Wikipedia articles]