For Immediate Release

In a 5-4 ruling today, the US Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license same-sex marriage and recognize those marriages entered into in other states.

Libertarian candidates, including the party’s 1976 presidential nominee, Roger MacBride, have been bravely calling for marriage equality since long before it was politically correct. In fact, they’ve been doing so when it was considered downright dangerous.

David Boaz, Vice President of the Cato Institute, noted in a column in The Advocate , ‘The Libertarian Party endorsed gay rights with its first platform in 1972 — the same year the Democratic nominee for vice president referred to ‘queers’ in a Chicago speech. In 1976 the Libertarian Party issued a pamphlet calling for an end to antigay laws and endorsing full marriage rights.’

‘I’m glad to see that the Supreme Court has upheld the equal rights for all Americans that the Libertarian Party has been fighting for, for over forty years,” said Nicholas Sarwark, Chair of the Libertarian National Committee.

‘We applaud and celebrate this victory, and we will continue to fight for the rights of all Americans to pursue happiness and prosperity in any way they choose,’ he said, ‘as long as they don’t hurt others or take their stuff.”

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