Is Homosexuality Sexuality

Cluistians worry about what they take to be the erosion of the Church's traditional code of sexual conduct and, in particular, the emerging consensus that prohibitions on homosexual activity are unwarranted.Their concerns are twofold.First, they worry that according homosexual relationships a status comparable to heterosexual marriage will undermine the prohibitions, practices and social arrangements that support the institution of marriage.Second, and more generally, they worry that the Church's changing stance on these issues represents a rejection of a specifically Christian code of moral conduct in favour of a secular ethic that is fundamentally incompatible with Christian morality.I argue on utilitarian grounds that the Church should not at this time ordain openly active homosexuals or bless same-sex unions, but that while traditional constraints on heterosexual activity, including the prohibition of premarital sex and divorce, may be justified by appeal to purely secular principles, no comparable prohibitions are justified as regards homosexual activity.To the extent that restrictions on sexual activity are warranted, homosexuality does not count as sexuality.This is not to set aside moral judgements about homosexual acts, or to remove them from the sphere of ethics.The suggestion is rather that while the benefits of institutionalizing traditional constraints on heterosexual activity may outweigh the costs, the benefits of imposing comparable constraints on homosexual activity do not.Calculating utilities, weighing overall costs and benefits, is not an alternative to the moral point of view -on the utilitarian account it is the moral point of view.What makes an action right or wrong, moral or immoral, on this account is nothing other than the result of such calculations: utilitarianism is an ethical theory, not an alternative to ethical assessment.Perhaps surprisingly, it provides a rationale for many traditional constraints on sexual conduct and church policies.Making these utilitarian considerations explicit is crucial in the current debate about church policy and sexual conduct.Utilitarianism has a good claim to be the common-sense secular ethic assumed in most moral deliberation.While many people disavow utilitarianism, and few are consistent utilitarians, when they ask whether an action will benefit others or do harm, weighing costs and risks, or whether

Homosexuality · Human sexuality · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Psychology