Oppositional Hypocrisy

I was half-asleep the other day when a thought occurred to me. 

All of us that keep up with the fight for LGBT rights have heard more times than we care to remember people who are against equality say things like "We should not be creating new classes of protected people" or "We should not be handing out special rights." What occurred to me was the fact that most people in this country live in a legal jurisdiction (whether local or state) that has some type of non-discrimination law or laws. These laws usually cover people based on national origin, race, gender, and many other things. They also often include religion. The very people who are against "special rights" have for themselves "special rights." The idea that "special rights" are okay if they are for you, but not if they are for someone else is pretentious beyond belief. Of course the phrase special rights is only used by the opposition. What we in the LGBT community are fighting for are not special rights, we are fighting for equal rights. These rights are (or should be) a function of being a decent person to your fellow human beings, which is supposed to be one of the main tenants of Christianity, the one that gets conveniently skipped over far too often.

"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right."
-James 2:8