The Moral Defense of Homosexuality: Why Every Argument Against Gay Rights Fails - Essential LGBTQ+ Rights Book for Activists, Educators & Allies

This excellent book is a model of the sort of "public philosophy" we sorely need. It carefully lays out the arguments against homosexuality and against gay marriage, it considers them in light of empirical evidence and soundness of reasoning, and finds them wanting. Badly. I admit that I was already a supporter of gay rights and same sex marriage, but I had never taught the issue (I am a philosophy professor) and had never explicitly looked at the arguments. I was genuinely surprised at how much I learned from reading Meyers' book.I would definitely recommend use of this book in class, not only because of how convincing it is on the issues, but because it is a paradigm of careful argumentation. There are several sections that I plan to include in classes on other topics--the discussion of slippery slope arguments, for example, was as clear as any I have read. I would also recommend this book to anyone who feels that there is something wrong with the arguments against homosexuality and same sex marriage but who wants to be able to articulate their fatal flaws. I don't know if the book will convince those who are doctrinally opposed to its thesis. I tend to doubt it, but only because I doubt arguments alone will weaken a certain strain of conviction. But it will enrich the debate and it will help those who are unsure of their stance examine their convictions and arguments, and will almost certainly convince them that the more tolerant position is correct.I feel obliged to address the reviewer (who seems to be masquerading as two reviewers in order to hurt this book's rating) who thinks Meyer's book falls short because it fails to address the fact that Aristotle and Kant opposed homosexuality. I have my doubts about the interpretation of these philosophers, but since Aristotle thought slavery was permissible and Kant thought masturbation was not, I care little for their pronouncements about particular cases. I'm more concerned with the nature of their arguments, and Meyers does deal with the sorts of (bad) arguments they might be interpreted as making. (Meyers doesn't directly deal with Kant's argument about masturbation, but it is really one of the great philosophical howlers.)This is a book for someone who wants to think about the arguments. It requires no previous knowledge of philosophy but will provide an excellent philosophical education along the way.