Kinsella, you make a point that we cannot make enough times: "IMHO, libertarians who are against gay marriage should not make the mistake of abandoning decentralization by endorsing the feds' interference with local government policies on this issue." All too often, culturally conservative libertarians do exactly that in order to sustain their personal grievances. And what are the Left-Libertarians doing? Claiming that everyone everywhere is a "homophobe" (oh, shut your trap, please; I'm tired of that one), and, they forget that every libertarian must necessarily resist any growth of the State whatsoever, at all times, and for any reason.
The current, militant gay movement is demanding forced benefits, and the whole movement is on its way to affirmative action, as well. We clearly see this already. This movement is based in Leftist-Marxism and anti-tradition. Creeping statism, and gaining favors granted by State powers, is their method of operation, in order to advance their socially left agenda. A little bit at a time, as they say. Yet the Left-Libertarians forget this simple fact, and they support gay "marriages" as things currently stand, and hence the growth of the State to bring this on, meaning further intervention in all of our daily lives, by the Feds. The fact that the Feds would marry gays, in addition to heteros, is, by itself, a colossal growth of the State! The Left-Libertarians support this because their social grievances are superceding libertarian principles, just like their conservative counterparts.
The proper libertarian stance is not supporting the Feds recognizing gay marriages, not supporting the Feds interfering in state and local laws, and working toward de-Federalizing marriages altogether, which means, yes, gay unions will abound freely.
