Is Equal Treatment For Gays Homophobic?

Although not all advocates of racial preferences regard all opponents as racist, many do. The latter, believing as they do that “civil rights” and “equality” as they understand them require rejecting the “without regard” principle and treating people differently based on their race, are convinced that ending racial preferences would be racist in effect and thus that those who oppose preferences are themselves racist. (Recall that after Proposition 209 passed in California the ACLU actually argued [unsuccessfully, it turned out] in federal court that barring racial preferences violated the 14th Amendment. Really. I’m not making this up.)

Why, then, I continue to wonder, do they not regard those campaigning in favor of equal rights and equal treatment for gays as homophobic for not demanding gay preferences?

I have raised this or a related point — that many more people would support gay rights if they didn’t fear that the current demand for equal rights would morph into a demand for preferences, as it did with blacks and women — many times before. (Only a few, believe it or not, are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

In the last post linked above, for example, I asked:

Does failure to award preferences to gays in college admissions, hiring, etc., when such preferences are given to other minority groups amount to discrimination against gays?

Has anyone ever accused any advocate of equal rights for gays of being homophobic for not demanding the same sort of preferences currently received by blacks, several favored ethnic groups, and women?

If not, why not?

Say What? (4)

  1. actus September 14, 2006 at 9:29 pm | | Reply

    “If not, why not?”

    Maybe because there’s already plenty of homophobes going around to prevent equality.

  2. […] considered this question a number of times. In Is Equal Treatment For Gays Homophobic?, for example, I asked if colorblindness is racist, why isn’t sexual-identiy blindness […]

  3. […] encourage, or even ultimately require preferential treatment of gays, but see here, here, here, here, here, and here for representative posts. Posted in And another […]

  4. Gay Preferences? April 19, 2013 at 9:53 pm |

    […] Is Equal Treatment For Gays Homophobic? […]

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