Morality and the health of the body politic
Beauchamp, D.E.
Hastings Center Report 16(6) Suppl: 30-36
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0093-0334 PMID: 3804721 Document Number: 345860
Although acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is clearly a public health threat, Beauchamp contends that the view that it is also a threat to the majority's values is a form of potentially counterproductive legal moralism. Social discrimination against homosexuals both directly threatens the health of homosexuals and impedes changes in their sexual practices that could lessen the risk of transmitting AIDS. Sodomy statutes contribute to the poor health of homosexuals by discouraging them from seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Success in the battle against AIDS depends on replacing old images of the tightly bound community based on sodomy statutes with a complex public health policy that combines the right to be different with the view that, in matters of the common health and safety, we are "one body" with a common good.