Suppose there was a procedure (not going for scientific accuracy here, but maybe some sort of genetic engineering or whatever, that's rather irrelevant) that could be done on a gay person to make them straight.

Would it be moral? Should it be legal? Illegal? Thoughts?

personally the libertarian in me says it should be legal because people have a right to their own body. Yet, I do see potential for it to be forced on people by religious communities in particular.

Morally, it feels odd. It seems for some reason wrong to change one's conscious. Because you would be changing what goes on in their mind, and changing them at their core. That strikes me as wrong for some reason.

Of course it should be legal - and coercion prosecuted.

I had to really think about this before responding :p

I think it should be legal, whether or not it is moral I don't know. I dislike it when people alter their perfectly healthy body for reasons other than preserving their lives. It uses drugs, medical equipment and time which could be used on some dude whose vital organs are packing up.

If the individual was paying for the whole thing, then I guess it would be alright but I would certainly want to know they'd had such a procedure if they were to be my 'other half'. I guess there's this thing in the back of my mind that makes me think their changed sexual orientation isn't really 'them'

100% legal.

This made me stand back and think for a while before posting.
To start with, if someone asked me this question my first response would be no because I would consider it to be unethical, especially if the procedure could abused and could be forced on someone, either directly or indirectly and would change their way of being.

I'm currently sitting on the fence with this one. If such a procedure was made legal then those people who really want the procedure can have it, especially if they are in a country where homosexuality is illegal/immoral and they could be jailed or at serious risk of harm-Although whether or not they would choose to have the procedure if they are in a different environment is another thing. However, a drawback to making a procedure like this legal is that not only might it be seen as discriminatory as it could suggest that being homosexual is wrong and that there are options to reverse it but there is also the potential for mistakes to be made in the procedure and someone could have irreversible damage done to them, especially if such a procedure was done in a place where there is a lack of safety and professional standards.

It's quite likely that any such procedure could also do the reverse - in which case, oh dear, sexual preference discrimination doesn't make sense anymore.

I'm going to agree with what most others have said here. It should be legal but impossible to force on somebody. Personally, I don't think society in some places is mature enough to have something like this available. Trust me, there would be religious nutcase parents that would stop at nothing to abuse the procedure on their unfortunate offspring.

And "the procedure" would be DOOMED to failure. Changing someone from Gay to Straight, or vice versa stands as much chance as changing their eye, or skin color at the DNA level, it WON'T happen. Gays and Straights are DNA CODED the way that they are, and NOTHING will change that. ANYONE that TRIES to change MY genetic coding will get a .308 bullet right between the eyes.

All you would have to do is hack the genome of a virus, e.g. HIV, to install the genes you wanted. (And no longer cause the negative effects of AIDS.) I'm not sure how fast it takes for the iris to regenerate, but it'd work for skin colour.

Do you know that lately MORE Straight people get Aids than Gays? On the other subject, I don't think that all the gene splicing in the WORLD would do no good for someone who had a .308 bullet driven through their skull. By the way, there are a BUNCH of "Militant" gays in America that would do EXACTLY that if anyone showed up on their doorstep offering them the "Treatment".

So, assuming such a thing were possible, I'm not sure why anyone would specifically not want it to exist (provided it would not be forced on people). That said, I don't know why anyone would want to change their orientation, or what purpose that would serve. In what hypothetical situation would someone want to do this, can someone give me an example?

But perhaps should the engineer who designed the procedure realize the likelihood of this procedure being forced on people, and thus not design it? In a way similar to developing the nuclear bomb to fight the Nazis, was ethical, but perhaps some people who worked on that project think they shouldn't have developed it, because of other consequences.

Also, for the sake of how I am to discuss this in my ethics class, let's say the procedure is not reversible: meaning a straight person cannot be made gay. Just for the sake of how I wish to discuss the ethics behind it.

Hmmm I would think that there would be hostilities towards such a procedure because the very nature of there being such a procedure suggests that having a homosexual orientation is something that can be removed, thus something that isn't desirable. Given that sexual orientation is a big part of who someone is, people could always view that as an attack or discimination.

The only instances that I can imagine that someone might want to change their orientation is if they have suffered a huge amount of abuse because of it, such as in a school or in a deeply religious or idealistic family. Also if someone who is homosexual is living in a country where homosexuality is illegal and in some case punishable by death and they could be shunned by their whole family that could be another instance where someone would like to change their sexual orientation. EDIT: Although, as previously said, and you could bring use this for your ethics class Theorist: If there is pressure for someone to change like that, then to what degree is choosing to have such a procedure their choice?

That's what I was thinking too.

I would say then that there would be a backlash against it, similar to the backlash against the stories of religious leaders who could "cure" homosexuality. If there is a procedure by the majority in society to change the minority then I imagine that there would be talk of discrimination.

I realize that we definitely have our differences, Moco, but THIS TIME, we are in the same camp.
While I do NOT like the way my genitalia was at birth, I am VERY comfortable with my Sexual Preference, and would NEVER want ANYONE messing with it.
The only people that I think would try are a bunch of Bible Thumping Theocratic fundamentalists, in THEIR sick minds, "for my own good".

Anything should be legal between consenting adults. I don't see the case for anyone wanting to change, but if someone does, then nobody should stop them if it's their decision.