Justifying Same-Sex Marriage: A Philosophical Investigation

ISBN-13: 9781783483228 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 178 str.

Louise Richardson-Self

Opis

There is massive public interest in same-sex marriage, a controversial topic that is rarely out of the media. This book investigates the extent to which legalising same-sex marriage can contribute to ending the discrimination and social stigma faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women (LGBT) in the Western world. This issue breaks down into several further questions: can marriage equality be defended without reinforcing the idea that marriage is the most/only valuable form of intimate relationship? Can marriage equality be defended without further marginalising non-conforming LGBT people? What kind of equality should LGBT people strive for? What critical agency might they lose when this equality is achieved? What institutional legacies should we embrace? The book focuses on human rights arguments supporting same-sex marriage and questions whether they are likely to both justify legal change and encourage shifts in the socio-political reception of LGBT people. After critically analysing various arguments in favour of same-sex marriage, the author puts forward a justification that allows for marriage equality and does not result in the assimilation of queer identities into heteronormative identity.