Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: Several events over the last few years have contributed to the ongoing discussion of the ethics and politics of same-sex relations.The "Defense of Marriage Act," supporting the institution of marriage between heterosexuals, passed Congress in 1996, thereby attempting to limit or undermine state and local legislation expanding domestic partnership laws to include same-sex couples.In July 1998, full-page advertisements in several of the nation's largest circulating newspapers appeared, sponsored by a coalition of conservative and Christian organizations who claimed that homosexuals could be "cured" through a combination of religious and pseudoscientific treatment.Then in October 1998, the heinous torture and murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, reinvigorated the national debate over whether hate crimes legislation should be expanded to include protection of homosexuals.Finally, the politics of same-sex relations pressed forward when Vermont passed legislation that expanded the legal rights of same-sex couples as a "civil union."The national debate goes on.Noticeably absent from the more traditional philosophical discussions of ethical, political, and legal theory is the inclusion of same-sex relations as a specific area of inquiry."Queer theory," the current paradigm for discussing issues of same-sex relations, has by and large remained at the margins of orthodox moral, political, and legal theorizing, relegated to cultural and literary criticism or the vague and opaque "language-games of postmodernism." 1 Philosophy has been slow to come to terms with gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transsexual dimensions of ethical theory, leaving such issues, for example, to feminist debates over gender and sex. 2 The present paper assesses the traditional ethical perspective underlying the rhetoric of moralism condemning homosexuality.In contemporary Anglo-American moral and political philosophy, Kant figures large in discussions about personhood, autonomy, and justice.Yet Kant himself condemns same-sex relations with reference to his ethical theory.Feminist critiques of Kant's views on women and marriage play a prominent role in salvaging those features of his practical philosophy that remain important, while nonetheless "leaving behind" (to use Barbara Herman's phrase) those that are historically antiquated or eliminable on other grounds.3 I shall attempt to do much the same thing here.I take Kant's views on same-sex relations to be the product of a certain religious and historical background, but it is important to note that the religious moral condemnation of homosexuality characteristic of his view continues even today.It is the aim of this
Source: Journal of Social Philosophy
Author: Kory Schaff
Institution: University of California San Diego
Language: English
Topic: Gender and Feminist Studies
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2032847431