Being a pedophile is not morally wrong

Apologies for the forfeiture, exam week has been hectic. I feel like this debate has come down to a semantics issue. My opponent and I seem like we agree on what I set out to argue; namely that simply being a pedophile is not, in and of itself, morally wrong. No one here believes pedophilia is a valuable part of society. It is a mental disorder that ruins lives, similar to many others. My opponent says "being depressed is, in and of itself, unethical,". This is a very troubling statement, one that implies that people with a mental illness are somehow responsible for their affliction. I think we can agree that no one chooses to be mentally ill. So where is the immorality in depression? The victim does nothing wrong, they are hit by depression through no fault of their own. So how can it be immoral? Depression, and all other mental afflictions, are amoral. They are just a force of nature, something that is. Morality doesn't apply to the concept of depression, or the concept of pedophilia, no more than morality applies to a broken leg or a gust of wind. Morality is a construct to guide human actions. This means that only actions can be judged morally. Pedophilia is not an action, and thus can't be said to be moral or immoral. Child abuse is an action, and can and is judged to be immoral. Pedophilia can cause immoral actions, but to describe a pedophile as immoral for being a pedophile is wrong. We should judge pedophiles solely on their actions, with regard to their condition only when we consider how to treat/punish them. My opponent's argument is best summed up in his paragraph where he talks about curing pedophilia. I'll clean up the form of the argument a bit to make it read easier. P1. Pedophilia is a negative thing. C1. Therefore, pedophilia is immoral. P2. Actions that bring about immoral actions are immoral. P3. Being pedophilic increases pedophilia. C2. Therefore, pedophilia is immoral. I think this is a fair representation of my opponents argument, as I used mostly his own words. This argument is flawed, however. Because not all negative things are immoral, the first part of the argument is not valid. The second part of the argument is valid, however it contains a dubious premise. P3 states that "being pedophilic increases pedophilia", however this is a very weak point. How exactly does being pedophilic increase pedophilia? It sounds like pedophilia is a virus that can spread, or a bad habit that gets worse over time from the wording he uses. I assume by "being pedophilic" he means engaging in activities assosciated with pedophiles, such as watching child porn, staking out parks, or molestation. Now, these actions are all immoral, but they don't cause pedophilia, it works the other way around. Being pedophilic simply does not cause pedophilia. To summarize, I argue that pedophilia is bad, just like depression, hurricanes, floods, droughts, AIDS, cancer, religious extremism, and many other things in the world. But I can't call depression immoral, or a hurricane immoral, because they are not actions. They do not behave. Only behaviours can be judged morally, by the very definition of morality. Pedophilia is not a behaviour, and therefore cannot be immoral. Being bad and being immoral are different things. What actions occur because of pedophilia may be immoral, becuase they are actions and can be judged as moral or immoral. Suicide can be moral or immoral, but depression cannot. Depression is a terrible thing, but not an immoral one. Pedophilia is a terrible thing, and may cause many people to commit immoral actions. I agree we should do everything we can to treat it, but I cannot call it immoral. That would display a lack of understanding of the concept of morality. As this is my last round, I would just ask my opponent to show how pedophilia, the mental disorder, is immoral. That is the topic of debate after all, and I think we are now clear that bad things are not always immoral things. How does an amoral concept, like a mental disorder, become judged as immoral? Thank you for an excellent debate!