Queering Same-Sex Marriage: Gay Determinism, Queer Choice and the Determination to Love
18 Pages Posted: 16 Feb 2015
Date Written: December 11, 2006
Abstract
At the heart of the debate on same-sex marriage is the question whether the restriction of marriage to opposite-sex partners is irrational or unfair to homosexual persons on the ground that homosexuality is genetically determined or innate. In this presentation I respond to this argument in two ways. First, I want to speak to the sociological plausibility of the claim that homosexuality is genetically determined. This presents an alternative scientific perspective to the biological research which undercuts, and in some ways helps us to understand, the biological claims for homosexuality. Second, I want to address the main rhetorical argument, and for many the most persuasive evidence, that homosexuality is determined, that is, the narrative reports of gay persons who have personally experienced or discovered their same-sex attraction to be innate and irresistible.
Keywords: same-sex, marriage, homosexuality, genetic trait, social construction
JEL Classification: J12, J18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation