I Heart New York

[Crone]

????Love is beautiful!????

[PonderThis]

I agree it's a long overdue basic human right.

Where do you get that notion? Where do "basic human rights" come from?

They come from within, and they're inalienable.

[Wonky]

I agree it's a long overdue basic human right.

Where do you get that notion? Where do "basic human rights" come from?

They come from within, and they're inalienable.

Don't think so Ponder.
If your "rights" come from within, you see your all your choices as legitimate even if they impinge on others.
Your "human rights" changed the moment you became aware of your place in the social order. When your parent told you you could no longer throw food, your rights became restricted.
To be human is to have language and live among other humans. You must conform to some degree with those around you or be subjected to removal from the greater society.

I truly fear the existentialist view that the rules apply only to the individual. Only hermits can adopt that.

We live at a time when social values are changing, probably faster than other times in history. We should, I feel, be careful about neglecting tried and true social norms until we are sure they are accepted in general.

We know that homosexual behavior goes back to the beginning of recorded history. We know that some primates are attracted and bond with members of the same sex. Those of us who are not homosexual may find this repugnant. We must however see it as a basic human right because it is a behavior long practiced and impossible to change.

So the freedom to select one's life partner is not inalienable, but one granted by the greater society.
Today.
There may come a time, again, when this behavior is no longer accepted. It would then no longer be a basic human right.

Our world is complicated. That is a good thing.

[PonderThis]

My parents say, among other things, that I "refused to be ruled, starting at age 2" They tried their best, and it didn't work. Society has tried their best, and it's only worked partially. I say they're inalienable. Inalienable so long as they don't intrude on others inalienable rights. I'm willing to work those things out. In my mind, that's still inalienable.

[Wonky]

My parents say, among other things, that I "refused to be ruled, starting at age 2" They tried their best, and it didn't work. Society has tried their best, and it's only worked partially. I say they're inalienable. Inalienable so long as they don't intrude on others inalienable rights. I'm willing to work those things out. In my mind, that's still inalienable.

Now there's the sticky wicket.
I went to the dictionary. A couple of them. It's tricky, because "human rights" (those granted by law) and inalienable rights (those which we are born with) are open to question. A slave has an inalienable right to be free. That right means little if human rights (the law) does not grant it.

People may very well be "born homosexual" and have inalienable rights to that behavior. They live openly and in comfort only when social law makes it possible.

As to you own standing in society, you meet the basic requirements of those laws or you could not be in public without conflict.

No one ever said modern life would be simple. (Well, maybe Alfred E. Newman, but hell, he didn't worry about anything).