The ‘Ethicists’ Address the Question of Accepting Financial Support from a Homophobic Parent
In the NYT Mag’s “Ethicists” column this week, a college student writes in to ask if it’s okay to hide the fact that he’s gay because his father has threatened to pull his financial support if he made it clear that he is.
The ethicists, as you can imagine, are appalled, and argue that yes, it’s okay to lie and it’s the father who is really acting unethically in this situation.
Kenji Yoshino, who teaches law at N.Y.U. adds something practical:
I would encourage the letter writer to contact the Point Foundation. The foundation was created in 2001 to offer educational scholarships to L.G.B.T.Q. students, who are doing well in school, precisely to deal with this kind of situation. In a sense, the organization has ethically anticipated the letter writer’s dilemma.
You can learn more about the Point Foundation here.
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