RE: Tolerate, Accept, or Embrace?
I can see your point, but at the moment, we live in a society which, for a variety of reasons, has decided to place 'marriage' in a special category. Whether or not the permission needs to be granted in some philosophical sense appears to me to ignore the very real fact that right now, in our society, based on our laws and our social structure, 'marriage' is a thing. What, then (I ask in all seriousness, not in an antagonistic fashion), is the alternative? :)
I currently know of no one demanding specific churches use their buildings and/or employees and staff to conduct weddings. Doesn't mean it's not happening, just that I'm unaware of it and every gay or lesbian I know is opposed to the idea of forcing someone of a particular religion to officiate their wedding. That's counter-productive--the other side of that coin, however, is that right now, marriage confers a plethora of rights to individuals that they do not otherwise have absent that contract: law, medicine, property rights, and so forth. What, absent the contract of marriage, is the alternative for ensuring people receive the rights to which they are due? That's where I'm confused--if not "marriage", then what? The free market, voluntaryism, libertarianism...I presume they offer answers that I'm unaware of, so I'm curious what those are. :)
Again, I hope this doesn't come off antagonistically. I'm genuinely interested in the discussion here, not having a comment war. Your linked post, for instance, ends with:
We need real solutions, not mythology.
All I'm seeing is the mythology. I'm looking for solutions. :)
Society decided nothing. Appeal to status quo is not an argument.
I'm not appealing to the status quo. I'm saying, "This is how things are now. What are the options for changing it?" Where do we go from here? What are the solutions proposed by Voluntaryism, Libertarianism, etc...? If the status quo isn't desired, then how did it get that way to begin with? And if society decided nothing (which, if not society, then whom? The church?), how are we where we are now?
Hand-waving away inconvenient elements doesn't get us anywhere...it is what it is, how do we change it?
Does that help? I'm trying to be as clear as possible, but I'm not sure I'm succeeding.
We disobey and live as if we are free. Instead of asking for permission, we assert our liberty. Look at what homeschoolers did in the 1970s and 80s. Hell, look at pot smokers. Most just smoke weed regardless of whether government will grant permission or not, and the best government will concede is "we get to tax and regulate the hell out of it," which means the black market continues. The Underground Railroad was literally a criminal conspiracy to violate state and federal law because the law was in the wrong. That is a far better model than petitioning the government for permission like subjects of the crown.