What is Free Love?
Free Love is different things to different people. Most people today equate Free Love with the 1960’s line that if you’re not with the one you love, love the one you’re with. That was not the meaning of Free Love in the 1870’s; at least, if you were a supporter of Free Love. Opponents of Free Love wrongly thought it meant abandoning your husband or wife and children at a whim. To supporters of Free Love, the definition was simple: Love is a matter for the heart, and not for the law. The government has no right to interfere in marriage and force people to stay married when they no longer love one another. If you were a Free Lover, you believed that a couple had the right to divorce if they chose to do so. Today, most people believe couples have the right to divorce, so some Free Love views of the 1870’s have become commonplace.
