Quote:
Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk
Is marriage a right? Also, if this is a civil right and no amount of voter support should apply then why did they hold a vote at all?  |
Marriage is a neutral and negative right by virtue of the fact that it's a private contract and often part of a religious institution. Granted, the latter is not specifically spelled out anywhere, but it is implied in many court decisions, and it should be spelled out. In addition, it's a key principle in the philosophy of Locke, whose ideas were integral in developing the Constitution.
Like many neutral and negative rights, however, it has a tendency to come under attack by people who want to dictate the nature of others' beliefs and decisions for some reason, often accomplished by supplying an imaginary or unquantifiable threat. Just look at all the contention over First-Amendment rights. Even when something is considered to be a sacrosanct, God-given natural right, whose regulation is strictly forbidden by the supreme law of the land, it gets questioned and even taken away on occassion. Seeing a vote on such an issue is not all surprising.