Autonomy, Equality, Community: The Question of Lesbian and Gay Rights
In: Praxis international: a philosophical journal, Volume 11, Issue 2, p. 195-213
ISSN: 0260-8448
A stronger conception of lesbian & gay rights is needed than is offered under the rubrics of liberty & of the right of privacy. Lesbian & gay rights are analyzed in terms of claims for: (1) the decriminalization of private, consensual homosexual acts between adults; (2) protection against invidious discrimination; & (3) the recognition of the ethical & social status of lesbian & gay relationships & associations. A political-ethical framework in which conceptions of autonomy, equality, & community are mutually developed is provided, & the uses & limits of privacy, the individual liberty vs community morality debate, constitutional morality, & the ambiguities of community are discussed. It is concluded that the respect for human equality & moral autonomy that underlies claims of individual rights locates persons in diverse & interacting social contexts & insists on the primacy of mutual respect as the governing norm encompassing community of right. D. Dennis
