This entire article is hilarious

[Chaerophon]

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this argument.  While I personally agree that this sort of thing is disgusting and "wrong" (and shouldn't need to be explained), saying that it should be illegal on the grounds of animal cruelty is just ridiculous, considering the way we treat animals we plan on eating.  If having sex with a horse is wrong because the horse can't consent to the act, why is it ok to keep cows perpetually pregnant so that we can harvest their milk indefinately?  Why is it ok to slaughter thousands of animals for food?  They certainly don't give their consent to that treatment.  Several people have already made this point in this thread, and no one's responded to it.  Either we grant animals rights or we don't - you can't call sex with a horse rape but not call slaughtering cows for food murder.

gekko
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Meh... I'm not that invested in it. Bottom line is that there is no comparison here between animal cruelty and homosexuality. What two rights-bearing adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom is up to them. I think that, from a liberal 'human rights' perspective, homosexual behaviour can quite clearly be defended - the defense of animal cruelty in the ways that you mention may rely more on convention than reason in coming to a determination.

You're right, the way that we treat animals is not humane. However, I wouldn't hesitate to point out that the fact that we treat them inhumanely does not excuse said treatment. I eat meat, and I'm not likely to stop. I haven't chosen the 'animal rights' battle as one into which to sink my chips. I suppose that that makes me a hypocrite, and fair enough to those that count me as such.

I haven't taken the time to explore the issue as well as I ought to do; however, I definitely see a marked difference between the two proposed types of 'sodomy'. In the case of animal abuse, 'convention' does not automatically equal 'rightness'. Whether animal rights abuses like those that you mention can be defended I'll leave to someone else (if they feel so inclined).

In sum - I'm not sure about the ethical status of animal cruelty; however, I'm confident that there is a difference when we're talking about a consensual act between two adults in a Western, liberal society.