Homosexuality, prejudice, and discrimination Essay

Homosexuality, prejudice, and discrimination - Essay Example I agree with Mohr that antigay stereotypes are a means of reinforcing gender roles in society. Since time immemorial, homosexuals are a minority in society. The traditional gender roles came about because the majority of members of society and who are either male or female. Since homosexuality is not the norm, no role has been defined for it except that it breaks the norm. The antigay stereotypes are thus means to reinforce the traditional gender roles in order to â€Å"normalize† the situation and not change the norm. It is precisely these types of thinking that explains the violence against and harassment of homosexuals. People through time for concepts of right and wrong, which become the accepted norms. Although in existence since the history of civilization, homosexuality has always been not freely manifested, even by the homosexual themselves which also reinforces the notion that being homosexual is abnormal, until the present time that more and more homosexuals have gathered the courage to publicize their sexual orientation. Because for a long time, the view of homosexuality is that it is an abnormality and publicized incidents highlight negative aspects, violence against and harassment of homosexuals has resulted. 2. That something is descriptively moral (or immoral) does not make it normatively moral (or immoral). What is the relevance of this point to homosexuality? According to Mohr, the prevailing definition of morality is what is normative or prescribed by society according to its values which consist of mores, norms and customs. This ways of defining morality is what has brought about the contention that homosexuality is immoral because it violates mores, norms and customs. ... However, Mohr contends that something descriptively moral or immoral does not make it normatively moral or immoral. By this he means that even if something can be described as moral or immoral should not automatically be prescribed as moral or immoral. As an example, he used slavery. For many years, people did not see anything immoral about slavery, perhaps because it had some beneficial aspects to it for both slave and master. However, today, slavery is no longer considered moral, especially after societies realized that the practice of slavery violated basic human rights. This example can be plotted against the issue of homosexuality. Not because the prevailing values seem to categorize homosexuality as immoral, it does not make actually immoral. Therefore discriminations against homosexuals is out of place and also violate of human rights. 3. How does Mohr respond to the argument that homosexuality is unnatural because it violates the function of the genitals, which is to produce babies Why does Mohr believe that sexual orientation is not a matter of choice How is this point relevant to the issue of discrimination Are there moral arguments against homosexuality that Mohr has overlooked or not done justice to Mohr uses a number of arguments against the view that homosexuality is unnatural because it violates the function of the genitals. He starts by using biblical references. He says the bible does not univocally condemn homosexuality, therefore homosexuality is not against God's will. And even if the bible does condemn homosexuality, in a democratic society, religion should not be used as justification for its condemnation. On the grounds that homosexuality should be condemned as unnatural, Mohr argues that