Chairman of the Cato Institute: “The moral and constitutional case for gay marriage”

Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute, writing in the New York Daily News: “Thomas Jefferson set the stage in the Declaration of Independence: ‘[T]o secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men.’ The primary purpose of government is to safeguard individual rights and prevent some persons from harming others. Heterosexuals should not be treated preferentially when the state carries out that role. And no one is harmed by the union of two consenting gay people . . . No compelling reason has been proffered for sanctioning heterosexual but not homosexual marriages. Nor is a ban on gay marriage a close fit for attaining the goals cited by proponents of such bans. If the goal, for example, is to strengthen the institution of marriage, a more effective step might be to bar no-fault divorce and premarital cohabitation. If the goal is to ensure procreation, then infertile and aged couples should be precluded from marriage.”