The ethical issue I am going to write about relates to gay and lesbian adoption. I picked this because I am an openly gay man who hopes to adopt one day, but some feel like adoption should be left to the straight families or families with a mother and a father. I want to show that it is possible for a child to have two mothers or two fathers.
One ethical concept that is related to my topic is "the right to equal treatment under the law." Shouldn't gay and lesbian couples have the right to adopt like everyone else? Another ethical concept that relates to this is topic is oppression, and to relate to that I can look at the Five Faces of Oppression such as cultural imperialism. Some people do not agree with the some of the things that gays and lesbians do and brings the whole group down as a whole when people generalize, etc. Just because these two gay men or these two lesbian women did drugs does not mean that all of us homosexuals are druggies. That is just something minor that people say about homosexuality.
For my research, I will be using books, especially ones that Jean Keller suggested for me, and I will be using academic journals to find research on studies that have been done to support my paper. I know there is some research on gay and lesbian parenting in the library databases. I will also use "The Five Faces of Oppression" in my paper as well.
On a scale from 1-10, I am at a 10. This something I am very interested in.
I really don't have any questions right now, but if people think that there is stronger ethical concepts to address, please let me know.
-Mickey N.
Graded reply
ReplyDeleteMickey-
I think you have a great start on where to take your ethics paper! You have a personal investment in the topic and I think that is an important part in writing a paper such as this one. I would be very curious to see what you find! The book I read for this class was about the first gay man to adopt a child from Ukraine. It was so interesting to read about the oppression that this man and his partner faced when they were abroad. This man, Paul, was scrutinized several times from adoption officials in Ukraine about his ability to parent a child because "there would be no mother" in the equation. In addition, they had to decide, under Arizona law, which one would legally adopt the children, because only those who were married could both adopt. Ironically, Paul's partner died a few years after the adoptions took place. It was fortunate in that situation that Paul had been the legal adoptive parent, because who knows what would have happened to the children if Paul had been the one to die. I think that could be something to look at or even think about in your research!
I think it would be important for you to narrow down the exact ethical topics you want to talk about as there are several in relation to gay and lesbian couples. Good luck!!