Ethical dilemma about the same sex marriage - Research Paper Example

text, the “Firm Balk at Gay Wedding” can be viewed as demonstrative of both ethical dilemmas raised by gay marriages and the way it can make interests of people clash. To start with, the gist of the article is a controversy concerning the human rights and religious views of a person as far as gay marriages often make these considerations collide. For instance, as it was explained in the article “Firms Balk on Gay Weddings” by Nathan Koppel and Ashby Johnes, people refused to serve wedding ceremonies of gay couples as it would insult their religious convictions.

(Koppel & Johnes) Subsequently, there raises the dilemma of whether it is ethically right to deny gay couples services due to personal views. Obviously, there could be various opinions on this question, depending on the approach one uses. From the duty-based ethics, a person who denies services to a gay couple is right as far as he/she does it due to believing in immorality of such relationships. The basics of the given theory are found in the works of Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential proponents of deontology.

According to it, a person is morally obliged to act accordingly to a set of principle and rules, regardless of whether an outcome would be good or bad. (Shakil) Putting it in other words, the only criterion to evaluate the ethics or morality of a decision or action is this action or decision itself. Subsequently, applying this theory to the situation described in the article, it is right to allow people to deny serving a gay couple if they act in accordance with their religious beliefs. In contrast, the given situation can be regarded as wrong when appealing to the outcome-based ethics that obliges to evaluate the degree of morality of an action or intention on the basis of the consequences it will bring.

("Consequentialism," 2014) Subsequently, the fact that business owners denied gay people an access to the services, such as “baking cakes for the ceremonies” is wrong