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Without what Edmund Burke called the little battalions of family, church, and community, the central government fills the gap. The Communists in Russia and elsewhere strove to weaken all institutions that were not affiliated with the state. In Europe, the established church, whether Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox, or Calvinist, regulated marriage and other family and societal matters with the sanction and support of the government. In America, with no one denomination prevalent, the several states took over such matters, generally taking a pan-Christian approach, not as strict on Sabbath-keeping as the Calvinists would have liked, not as strict on divorce as the Catholics would have liked. But areas of general agreement among the Christian groups, like adultery, sodomy, pornography, etc., were covered by common law and later statutory law.

These restraints were overturned in the cultural revolution, which is popularly associated with the 1960s but had its roots much earlier, with the rise of skepticism and liberalism among the Ivy League educated upper classes around the beginning of the last century and the impact of the Frankfurt School refugees in the 1930s on academia and the overall culture. By and large, libertarians are in agreement with the elimination of such laws to their own detriment. In pre-1960s America, there was always the ability to leave an overly puritanical area to a more libertine one. If you didn't like Podunk, there was always a New Orleans, a San Francisco, or a Bohemian district in New York or Chicago. A decentralized society is more conducive to libertarian ideals than a centralixed one.

Thank you for your many excellent points. Some of the finer points...

By and large, libertarians are in agreement with the elimination of such laws to their own detriment.

A decentralized society is more conducive to libertarian ideals than a centralixed one.

There are pros and cons for .gov marriage. But, once the state is involved, that opens the door for other policies.

In the past, some states had anti miscegenation laws. Now, .gov marriage has 'allowed' gay 'marriage'. Group 'marriage' is just around the corner.