Aborting Sex: Gay Rights as an Anti-Life Movement
Life and Learning XX (2010)
18 Pages Posted: 28 Jan 2019
Date Written: January 16, 2010
Abstract
Gay rights is not generally considered a life issue. But the social and cultural effects of same-sex sexual expression are remarkably similar to those of induced abortion. Like contraception, both contravene the natural operation of the body in order to conform human sexuality to the ideals of modernity – including unconditioned personal expression, availability to industrial capitalism, and reduced uncertainty in the life course. By severing the link between sex and children, both increase privatization, diminish the social intentionality and form of the sexual union, and undermine the unitive good and the transcendent goal of marriage. Movements for both gay rights and abortion rights employ similar rhetoric and share activist personnel, and gay rights activists strategically promote affinity with abortion rights. Unless proponents of human life engage such alignments on the cultural level, overcoming insularity and a narrow focus, direct issue engagement on abortion and on homosexuality risks becoming incoherent and counterproductive.
Keywords: gay rights, abortion, contraception, public policy
JEL Classification: J12, J18, Z1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation