Ben Shapiro’s views on Gay Marriage have been consistent in that he opposes the legalization of gay marriage within the larger, libertarian position, that the Government should “not be in the marriage business” at all. This is fairly consistent with Ben’s generally conservative view(s) on all issues.
However while his position has been consistent, it has seemed to soften over the years. On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage is a fundamental right and should fall under the protection of the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment. On this day in 2015, Ben Shapiro was a vocal critic of the court’s decision and took to Twitter to express his disappointment:
Let’s just skip all the suspense: SCOTUS should just declare a Constitutional right to whatever the hell they feel like that day.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 26, 2015
Obviously if 5 unelected people think 330 million people must accept same sex marriage because they say so, I mean, come on, stop h8ing!
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 26, 2015
Same sex marriage will never affect you. By “you,” of course, we don’t mean your business, church, school, or raising of your children.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 26, 2015
[Twitter.com, 6/26/15, 6/26/15, 6/26/15]
In 2016, Ben went on the Rubin Report to discuss gay marriage with openly gay reporter Dave Rubin. There he stated, or re-stated, his primary thesis that the “the government sucks at everything” and thus the government should be entirely out of marriage. Thanks to the miracle that is long form interviews, Shapiro was allowed time to elaborate on the question of whether same-sex and straight couples should be treated equally under the law (assuming that marriage is not going to be abolished):
Should government subsidize gay marriage and straight marriage the same way? My answer is no because the only purpose for the government getting involved in marriage is the procreation of the next generation and the raising of that generation and it’s my belief that a man and a woman do a better job of raising a child and producing children, obviously, biologically then two men or two women.
As a brief aside that we do not want to get in the habit of doing, it should be noted that this is actually inaccurate. We haven’t seen Ben yet presented with this argument but we would be fascinated to see his response (if you’re planning on interviewing him feel free to incessantly plug us).
Early arguments for secular, state sponsored marriage can be dated back to the end of the 18th century, when German philosopher Johann Biester (writing anonymously due to the controversial nature of the claim) reasoned the following:
– The primary focus of governments should be to prevent revolution.
– Similar to owning property, marriage prevents revolution by giving people “a stake” in the country.
– If the church is allowed to hold a monopoly on the institution of marriage, many people will be excluded from the opportunity to participate in a marriage.
Therefore, Biester concluded, the state should not only be involved in legitimizing the institution of marriage but actively incentivizing citizens to take part in the practice (through mechanisms such as tax breaks). We’ll be adding a section about the history of this argument in future posts but for now, let’s get back to Shapiro.
In 2019, Ben went on the Joe Rogan Experience to have another long form discussion where Joe pressed Ben on the subject. Ben agreed that “hom*osexuality is not a choice” but stuck to the argument that just because something is desired, instinctually, that wouldn’t make it morally permissible. Ben, quoting, leviticus states “the bible says that a man should not lie with another man. It doesn’t say a man can’t be attracted to another man.” Finally when asked what, in Ben’s view, a “gay person should do” Shapiro responded “ideally they would find a woman and have children…but be honest about it.”
Ben’s Views on Same Sex Marriage Are Consistent With Conservatives
Until 2011, a majority of U.S. adults opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage. Since the 2015 SCOTUS ruling, approval of same-sex marriage has consistently been in the 60-62% range in Pew polling.
Outside of sexual preference, the biggest factor in whether one favors or opposes same-sex marriage is, somewhat unsurprisingly, political party. As of 2019, republicans generally disapprove of same-sex marriage (just 44% approve) while democrats overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage (75%). In many ways acceptance of same-sex marriage has been fairly abrupt. For example in 68% of Americans said that they opposed same-sex marriage, while only 27% supported. In 2018, 67% of Americans supported same-sex marriage, while only 31% opposed.
In fact the decriminalization of same-sex intercourse in the United States, only began to gain momentum in early 1970s. Many southern states did not fully decriminalize the practice until 2003.
Gay Marriage Around The World
As of 2019, 28 countries (including Canada and Mexico) now explicitly permit same-sex marriages with Costa Rica set to become the 29th country. Israel, whose position seems particularly relevant to the subject of this article, recognizes same-sex marriages if the marriage happened abroad.
On the other end of the spectrum, same-sex marriage is illegal in many countries around the world with severe criminal penalties applied when individuals are caught performing such “actions.”
