BROKEN RECORD (ME, NOT HIM): Unqualified Offerings on me on same-sex marriage. I guess I just find it odd that a hardcore libertarian like UO (that’s not an insult! seriously!) is defending SSM rather than simply saying marriage should be just another contract. I mean, unless we are starring in “Willard,” we all have intense personal relationships. Why do these relationships suddenly become the state’s business when we start sleeping together? Why do we need/seek/prefer state sanction and status for sexual relationships when we wouldn’t need/seek/prefer it for other intense personal relationships?

EDITED TO ADD: Maybe another way to put this is, Before you figure out “why same-sex marriage?” you need to figure out, “why marriage?”

I think it is much easier to answer that question for male-female sexual relationships than for any other kind. Others may differ; but I do think that’s the essential question for those who start from a libertarian perspective.

And I think I answered the “persistence of gender roles” thing here. Yeah, UO is absolutely right, you gotta get up real early to thwart children’s desire for gender. The only question is, Who will give them the models of gendered action–you, or MTV?

EDITED: I do realize I didn’t address most of Jim’s specific points. I’ll probably do that sometime this weekend. But I kind of wanted to swoop back for a moment and get the wide-lens view.