Same-Sex Marriage and Equality

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14 (5):589-595 (2011)
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Abstract

Some argue that same-sex marriage is not an equal rights issue because, where same-sex marriage is illegal, heterosexuals and homosexuals have the exact same right to marry—i.e., the right to marry one adult of the opposite sex. I dispute this argument by pointing out that while societies that prohibit same-sex marriage equally permit individual heterosexuals and homosexuals to marry one adult of the opposite sex, same-sex couples in such societies are denied an important right that opposite-sex couples enjoy—i.e., the right to marry. I argue that the right to marry is fundamentally, not an individual right, but a couple’s collective right, analogous to assembly rights

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R. M. Williams Williams
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

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Personal Rights and Public Space.Thomas Nagel - 1995 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 24 (2):83-107.
The nature and disvalue of injury.Seth Lazar - 2009 - Res Publica 15 (3):289-304.

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