A couple weeks ago Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute, co-authored a Washington Post op-ed with John D. Podesta, president of the leftish Center for American Progress, in which they urged the courts to invalidate the will of Californians and residents of the 30 other states where voters have rejected same-sex marriage.

The involvement of Cato, a self-described libertarian think tank, on the side of those pushing for same-sex marriage is disturbing on two counts. First, Levy is urging judges to legislate from the bench, to overrule the citizenry, who have expressed their will in the clearest way possible: through direct referendum. Second, he argues for his position, both here and in an op-ed back in January in the New York Daily News, on the basis of equality rather than liberty.

Libertarians have a long history in the struggle for gay rights. In the early 1970s the Libertarian Party took a principled stand in support of repealing state sodomy statutes. These were the laws that were used to justify police persecution of gay people, such as the raid that resulted in the Stonewall riots in June 1969 — the event that marked the beginning of the gay rights movement. Read more »