While conservatives rally behind the sanctity of marriage to draft constitutional amendments and laws that exalt the union of man and woman as the key to protecting the family, and while LGBT advocates rally against a denial of equality, a new group is looking at the marriage issue from a simpler perspective–get government out.

“We look at a license as giving permission,” says DJ Schanz (pictured, standing left; not to be confused with controversial entrepreneur and former gubernatorial candidate “Super Dell” Schanze), spokesman and co-founder of advocacy group Government Free Marriage. “And anything the government can give, it can take away. We don’t think of [marriage] as like a hunting or driver’s license. We see it as an inherent right to contract.” For a cadre of straight-laced conservatives, mostly Utah Mormons, the members of Government Free Marriage hope to shake up the gay marriage debate by offering a compromise: allow gay individuals–along with all other consenting adults-the opportunity to contract marriage as they see fit.

While the idea has traction by virtue of its simplicity, in practice it would face numerous cultural and legal hurdles. “This is where libertarians become more dangerous than dedicated Marxists, in my opinion,” says Paul Mero, director of conservative think tank the Sutherland Institute. “When they come up with a solution, they don’t take into consideration the entire fabric of a free society,” Mero says, arguing they focus too much on individual rights.

Full Story from Salt Lake City Weekly

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