Rights‐based reasoning in discussions about lesbian and gay issues: implications for moral educators

Abstract

Despite a paucity of psychological research exploring the interface between lesbian and gay issues and human rights, a human rights framework has been widely adopted in debates to gain equality for lesbians and gay men. Given this prominence within political discourse of human rights as a framework for the promotion of positive social change for lesbians and gay men, the aim of this study was to explore the extent to which rights-based arguments are employed when talking about lesbian and gay issues in a social context. An analysis of six focus group discussions with students showed that when lesbian and gay issues are discussed, rights-based reasoning is employed intermittently, and in relation to certain issues more so than others. The implications of these findings for moral education aimed at promoting positive social change for lesbians and gay men are discussed.3 Rights-Based Reasoning in Discussions about Lesbian and Gay Issues: Implications for Moral EducatorsHuman rights are "the rights of all people, at all times and in all situations" (Cranston, 1962, p.49). A human rights approach to lesbian and gay issues takes as its starting point the fundamental principle that human rights are universal and inalienable comprising first and foremost the right to life and secondly any rights which maintain the existence and quality of that life (e.g. civil, social and economic rights) for all people regardless of class, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion and disability (Donnelly, 1993). Consequently, whether or not embodied in laws, treaties and declarations, human rights apply to all people, including lesbians and gay men.Psychological theory and research on moral reasoning has engaged implicitly with human rights, with human rights occupying a small but key position in moral developmental theory. For example, within Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development, human rights are embedded at the sixth, and highest, stage of reasoning, characterised by "universal principles of justice: the equality of human rights and respect for the dignity of human beings" justified in terms of a "belief as a rational person in the validity of universal moral principles and a sense of personal commitment to them" (Kohlberg, 1984, pp. 174-6). Therefore, within a Kohlbergian framework, reasoning based on human rights is considered the most advanced, and thus most desirable, form of reasoning and the benchmark by which earlier stages of reasoning are evaluated (Carter, 1987).Arising from Kohlberg's theory is a well established body of empirical research, but for the most part, these studies appear not to have engaged with the human rights aspect of the model. This is probably due, at least in part, to the fact that in most studies, few (if any) participants have been found to reason at 4 stage six (see Kohlberg, 1984;Kohlberg et al., 1983). Despite neo-Kohlbergian work being well-established in the psychological literature, it has also been heavily critiqued (for a summary, see Kohlberg et al., 1983). In particular, it...

“Aren’t Labels for Pickle Jars, Not People?” Negotiating Identity and Community in Talk About ‘Being Gay’

“…Howard supports this and outlined that acceptance as a person—not as a gay person—is important, as is being treated the same as anyone else. This is a position that values a human rights discourse, which takes as a starting point that human rights are universal and inalienable for all people regardless of class, race/ethnicity, sex, and sexuality (Ellis, 2004). At the same time it draws on a normalizing discourse that not only recognizes that a person has rights as a “different sexuality” but also asserts that these rights are not different to those of people of other sexual orientations.…”