The gender diverse and the genderless conceptions of marriage and children’s right to develop their sexual identity

Abstract

The article is a philosophical analysis of the meaning structure of two competing conceptions of marriage with regard to children’s right to develop their sexual identity. These two conceptions of marriage make different metaphysical assumptions about human nature, which lead to different conceptions about the preconditions of children’s sexual development. The gender diverse conception assumes that human beings are born with a biological sex and they can be integrated persons only when living in terms with it. In order to develop their sexual identity they benefit from male-female interaction within the nuclear family. The genderless conception assumes that children are free to construct their sexual identity according to their inner experience and the main precondition for such an authentic development is an environment free of sexual stereotypes.