ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses three problems of discrimination: by race, by gender, and by sexual orientation. Virtually every country in the world has experienced widespread social discrimination by gender. Gender discrimination has biological and social origins. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been fostered by historical attitudes that are founded upon a false notion that people have no biological inclinations regarding sexuality. Discrimination by sexual orientation takes to mean discrimination against homosexual and/or transsexual individuals. It is difficult to ascertain just why people discriminate on the basis of race. There may be both biological and social reasons. Kin-selection theory in evolutionary biology postulates that each person is driven by a biological imperative to pursue a "selfish gene" strategy aimed at passing his or her genes to the next generation. Sexual orientation, be it homosexual, transsexual, or any other biological expression, remains one of the least understood phenomena in the world.