Debating Rights and Same-Gender Relationships

Abstract

[This is a draft version. Final version published: (2016) 4 Journal of Law, Religion and State 194.] This article analyses the increasing tension between equality in legal discourse and religious communities’ moral argument concerning same-sex relationships. It argues one key component is scepticism of a prominent brand of rights language. The Anglican Church in New Zealand, Aotearoa and Polynesia is raised as an example. Tracing this group’s debates over same-sex relationship recognition within a global context, the article argues there has been a shift. Previously appeals to rights language were common within this community; now, these are more muted. Revisionists have responded to a sceptical claim: that rights language presents a roadblock to discussion and an unsound account of the person, our common life, and public goods. The article therefore presents a contrast, between claims of equality typically emphasising self-identity and self-actualisation, and a religious community’s attempt to discuss competing views on same-sex relationship recognition within a framework of gift-giving, duty, and virtue linked to sexuality.

Keywords: Equality, religion, same-sex relationships, rights scepticism, Anglican