The racism analogy is misleading

Abstract

Even if the racism analogy is morally sound, that conclusion cannot support the withholding of all accommodation. It is actually several different analogies. One might be comparing their effects, their moral errors, the evil intentions of those who hold them, or their status as views that are appropriately stigmatized. There are important differences. Religious heterosexism is generally nonviolent. And unlike in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed, religious claims can be accommodated without defeating the point of the law. Establishing a legitimate place for dissenters, in a gay-friendly legal regime, would actually be helpful in addressing some of the most pressing contemporary gay rights issues, notably youth homelessness.