Dignity, Sexuality, and Moral Order in Legal and Judicial Debate

To explore the role of dignity in judicial reasoning and constitutional morality, this chapter considers two legal debates in which dignity has played a central role: LGBT rights and bans on Muslim head coverings. These case studies reveal the inconsistent and sometimes confused ways in which dignity is used. They also reveal the two broad understandings of dignity operating within legal discourse, what are termed the liberationist and teleological accounts. The chapter argues that there are reasons to be troubled by the inconsistent and often imprecise ways in which dignity is casually invoked, but it should not be dismissed as a meaningless jurisprudential concept. The chapter proposes that dignity can serve as a tool to identify fundamental cultural divides over the nature and meaning of freedom within late modern culture. Through the legal discourse on dignity, competing visions of the modern self are revealed, negotiated, and refashioned.