Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty, or GLIL, is an international organization of persons committed to the political philosophy of individual liberty, both generally and as it affects lesbians, gay men, and bisexual persons. As such, we welcome classical liberals, market liberals, limited-government libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, and objectivists, as well as persons wishing to learn more about our views.
We believe that the source of sovereignty and the fundamental unit of society is the individual and reject any higher secular authority. We do not place the good of the "collective whole" above that of individuals, since "the collective whole" is at most a macroscopic averaging of individual actions. Nor do we accept the majority as the final arbiter, since being a majority does not confer ownership of the minority. Moreover, appeals to the "higher good" are circular, since they presuppose a moral right to impose one's view of the "higher good" on others.
From individual sovereignty we derive the non-coercion principle, which states that no person has the right to initiate force or fraud against another for any reason, no matter how virtuous that reason may appear. This principle deductively leads to "liberal" positions on some issues, such as as whether government should prohibit sodomy or drug use, and to "conservative" positions on other issues, such as whether government should redistribute wealth or protect us from our own foolishness.
We reject as arbitrary the distinction between "economic" and "personal" individual liberties. If the individual owns herself, then she must necessarily also own both her own body and the fruits of her own labor, absent a voluntary alienation of either. Thus, the two forms of individual liberty, often seen as being in opposition, actually have the same source.
For more information about libertarianism and how it affects issues of importance to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons, you may wish to read a position paper entitled Gays, Lesbians, and the State, given by Gene Cisewski at the University of Texas at Austin in March, 1997.
Questions about GLIL? Call 703-920-4023. or email glil@glil.org.
If you would like to join GLIL and/or make a contribution to support our activities, please complete our membership form.
This Page Last Updated on
Friday, 28 March, 2003 14:27