The Morality of Gay Rights: An Exploration in Political Philosophy

The Morality of Gay Rights presents a comprehensive exploration of the connection between gay rights and traditional (non-postmodern) political philosophies. Carlos Ball discusses the writings of contemporary political and legal philosophers (including Rawls, Walzer, Sander, Rorty, and Dworkin) to evaluate how their theoretical frameworks fit the specific gay rights controversies that are part of our nation’s political debates, such as same-sex marriage and the rights of families headed by gay and lesbian parents. The Morality of Gay Rights also takes the unusual position of using Foucault’s work to justify liberal theories, rather than post-modern ones. Ball takes the unorthodox position that gay men and lesbians have nothing to lose by fully incorporating nations of morality into gay rights theory. With its well-written descriptions of the key texts and its accessible, persuasive arguments, this book will be of interest to everyone working in contemporary political theory or in LGBT studies.