ABSTRACT
For many years, in many countries, sexual activity between people of the same sex has been stigmatized, criminalized, and punishable by death. People who engage in such sexual activity, who identify as desiring to engage in it, or who are perceived as desiring it have been subject to discrimination. Although attitudes have changed in many countries, negative attitudes towards same-sex sexual activity and desire continue. This chapter considers ethical and jurisprudential issues concerning discrimination against people in virtue of their sexual orientations. 2 It begins by discussing the nature of sexual orientations. It then turns to two accounts meant to justify discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation—that same-sex sexual orientations are unnatural, and that they are non-procreative—and two accounts meant to show that sexual-orientation discrimination is wrong—that sexual orientations are innate and/or immutable and that sexual-orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. It concludes with a sketch of a better account of why sexual-orientation discrimination is wrong.
