Many states have recently expanded their definition of marriage to allow marriage between same-sex couples: a welcome move towards equality, but does this go far enough? Clare Chambers argues for a more extreme position: that the state should not recognize marriage at all. State recognition of marriage, she will argue, is a violation of both equality and liberty – no matter how marriage is redefined. She will also set out an alternative model for regulating personal relationships.

Clare Chambers is Reader in Political Philosophy and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. She is the author of Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defense of the Marriage-Free State (Oxford University Press, 2017); Sex, Culture, and Justice: The Limits of Choice (Penn State University Press, 2008); Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (with Phil Parvin, Hodder, 2012); and numerous articles and chapters on feminist and liberal political philosophy.

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