A Moral Justification for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Legislation

Bibliographic Data

ID3637405
AuthorsVincent J Samar (0000-0002-9724-4233, Loyola University Chicago, corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume27
Issue3-4
Pages147-178
Publication date1994-11-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j082v27n03_09
PMID7860981
OpenAlexW1999997051
LanguageEN
Citations received3

This essay explores, in two parts, the problems of justifying civil rights legislation for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Part I shows that discrimination against gays and lesbians at least in respect to employment, housing, and public accommodations is an evil unsupported by ethical traditions in utilitarianism, rights theory, and communitarianism. It also shows that two theories, Kantian theory and natural law theory, which do support such discrimination on the claim that homoerotic behavior is universally or objectively immoral only do so because of a failure to make precise the concept of "natural" which underlies those theories. Part II argues that anti-discrimination legislation is both an appropriate and effective means to promote the idea that discrimination against lesbians and gays in respect to most employment, housing, and public accommodations is sufficiently injurious to both individuals and society that it should not be tolerated. The section also explains how such legislation might succeed practically in eliminating discrimination in these areas

Civil rights · Criminology · Gay rights · Homosexuality · Legislation · Lesbian · Political science · Politics · Sexual orientation · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Gender Studies · Law · Legal Systems and Judicial Processes

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