gay rights and natural law theory
Essay 1 A Natural Law theorist would argue that homosexuality is unnatural because it goes against four common definitions of the word unnatural. The Natural Law theorist would argue that homosexuality goes against the descriptive laws of nature, it is artificially produced by humans, anything uncommon is unnatural, and that any use of an organ that it contrary to its purposed use is unnatural. Leiser believes that these contentions to homosexuality being a natural phenomenon do not sufficiently explain why homosexuality is unnatural. Leiser believes that homosexuality does not go against the descriptive laws of nature because these laws are meant to describe behavior, not prescribe it. (Leiser p. 56) Leiser gives the example of the law of nature that says that water boils at 212 degree Fahrenheit. This law does not tell the water that this is what it has to do, but simply describes a natural phenomenon. In fact, if any of these descriptive laws is broken, then it cannot be considered a law at all. (Leiser p. 56) With regards to the contention that homosexuality is unnatural because it is artificially produced by humans, Leiser refers to his typewriter. He explains that man had to remove certain substances from nature and put them together using a variety of chemical and mechanical processes to create his typewriter. With this, he argues that the logic that would lead someone to believe that this is a reason for thinking that homosexuality is unnatural would lead someone to think that anytime man exerts a degree of control over nature, it is unnatural. (Leiser p. 57) In defense of the argument that homosexuality is unnatural because anything that is uncommon is unnatural, Leiser argues that there are plenty of behaviors that are uncommon that are not considered unnatural. He illustrates that not many people play the viola in a string quartet, and that great poets, musicians, and scientists are uncommon, yet they are not considered unnatural. (Leiser p. 58) To