5 ms·
Ask HN: Should marriage be a human right?
Locke, Paine, and other enlightenment thinkers believed that human rights belong to individuals. A marriage is a union between two people. It's not something that every individual can participate in because not every individual has someone willing to marry him/her. Some may say that having someone who loves you enough to want to be tied to you is a privilege, not a right. Should marriage really be a rights issue, or should it be a privileges issue? Is this just semantics?
- InvictusTheGod 13y agoNo. A "right" is a legal claim against someone. You have no right to someone else, just yourself. Other than that its contractual and does not require a state body to sanction said contract. So, no.
- Im_Talking 13y agoDon't agree. A 'right' is more basic than that. A 'right' is a fundamental activity that everyone can do unless it affects other people's rights. The old saying "My right to swing my arms ends at your face" is the perfect description. I have the right to drink 2 bottles of whiskey as long as I don't infringe upon other people's rights of security, safety, etc. I have the right (in a perfect world) to smoke cannabis on my back porch as long as other people's rights are not violated (right to clean air, etc). And 'rights' are not allowed or given... they are fundamental; ie, there has to be very rational reasons to disallow a 'right' (hear that, Harry Aslinger?) ... and getting back to the OP. Anyone is free to love and co-inhabit anyone else. It is a right. A privilege is given, rights are fundamental.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]