Gay Marriage

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INTRODUCTION1

DISCUSSION1

Gay Marriage and Utilitarianism1

Moral Relativism and Gay Marriage3

Emotivism and Gay Marriage4

Ethical Egoism and Gay Marriage5

CONCLUSION6

REFERENCES9

Gay Marriage

Introduction

This paper intends to highlight the issue of gay marriage, which is the most influential and prevailing ethical issue in the United States. There are numerous ethical perspectives about gay marriage or same sex marriage pertaining to the legalization of the relationship. Gay marriage is the hottest topic as it impacts the country, and the future of next generation. Gay marriage creates an ethical controversy because experts and policymakers are still battling to develop a consensus regarding the wrongness or rightness of gay marriage. Nevertheless, there is still a significant majority of people within the United States and in other parts of the world, who believe and see gay marriage as a taboo and oppose the idea of same sex marriage.

The thesis statement of the study is how the utilitarianism theory is concerned with the gay marriage, and how it can be used to resolve the prevailing issue of same sex marriage for the goodness of the society. Therefore, the bulk of this paper would aim at using utilitarianism for analyzing and exploring the morality of gay marriage. However, the other part of the paper will use the theories and ideas from moral relativism, ethical egoism and emotivism to derive the moral status of gay marriage and compare and contrast the same with the view presented by utilitarianism.

Discussion

Gay Marriage and Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are the founders of the utilitarian school of thought in morality and ethics. Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory which remains concerned with the maximization of “utility” (happiness) and the minimization of pain. According to Bentham (1970) the pursuit of pleasure and prevention from pain are the ruling conducts of human life in the psychological sense. He added that the human beings constantly seek to maximize the amount of happiness and exterminate the amount of pain. More importantly, utilitarianism argues that the moral worth of any action should be determined through the degree to which that action creates the “greatest good for the greatest number of people” (Andryszewski, 2007).

Interesting here to note is that, unlike many other moral theories, utilitarianism does not provide a straight forward answer to the morality or immorality of gay marriage but it leaves the decision on certain other factors. In order to label gay marriage as ethical and moral, one will have to explore that whether or not it maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain for the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Copp, 2007).

Quite clearly, gay marriage maximizes pleasure for homosexual couples as they gain legal rights, recognition and relief that they would receive treatment as equals and that society will no longer discriminate against them. Furthermore, at the same time, it minimizes their pain of discrimination and absence of legal rights. However, the urgent question here is that whether or not it does the same for the greatest number of ...