WHY ARE GAY INTERESTS SO EASILY SACRIFICED? Barry Deutsch

...There's an interesting parallel here. Elizabeth asks why it's acceptable to exploit thousands of women to increase the chance of curing deadly diseases. There are two premises implicit in Elizabeth's anti-cloning argument--one, that there are potentially fruitful avenues of research aside from cloning, and two, that cloning harms women's interests--but if you accept Elizabeth's premises, her conclusion is reasonable. All else held equal, it is better to try to cure diseases without harming women in the process.

Well, then: Isn't it also better to try to help heterosexual families without harming lesbian and gay families in the process?

Why is it acceptable to deprive thousands of same-sex couples and their children of marriage--of the rights to having socially recognized families, with the dignity and security that, for many, only marriage can confer--just because there's a chance that depriving same-sex families of equal rights will reduce heterosexual divorce?

The two situations are very similar. There's a valuable goal being sought (stronger het marriages/cures for diseases). There are multiple policies we could pursue to reach the goal. However, one of the policies treats a particular group of people (women/same-sex families) as if their well-being doesn't count.

When the group being sacrificed is women, Elizabeth says "let's find an alternative route." But when the group being sacrificed is same-sex families, suddenly a group sacrifice is appropriate. Why?

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posted by Eve at 12:45 AM | link

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