Forms of respect and sexual diversity. Is toleration discardable?

All rights reserved. Since a couple of decades ago a trend has emerged in the literature that seeks to discard toleration, especially when it concerns sexual diversity and other ascriptive differences. The underlying idea is that toleration is incompatible with the respect we owe each other as equals in a democracy. In this article we argue that the conception of respect that motivates that trend is politically deficient, given our societies’ deep disagreements. We propose “institutional respect” as an alternative, which focuses on the real possibilities of political participation.