Parental selection of children's sexual orientation
Greenberg, A.S.; Bailey, J.M.
Archives of Sexual Behavior 30(4): 423
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-0002 PMID: 11446202 DOI: 10.1023/a:1010265416676Document Number: 258661
As we learn more about the causes of sexual orientation, the likelihood increases that parents will one day be able to select the orientation of their children. This possibility (at least that of selecting for heterosexuality) has generated a great deal of concern among supporters of homosexual rights, with such selection being widely condemned as harmful and morally repugnant. Notwithstanding this widespread condemnation, and even assuming, as we do, that homosexuality is entirely acceptable morally, allowing parents, by means morally unproblematic in themselves, to select for heterosexuality would be morally acceptable. This is because allowing parents to select their children's sexual orientation would further parent's freedom to raise the sort of children they wish to raise and because selection for heterosexuality may benefit parents and children and is unlikely to cause significant harm.