"Equal" Rights

Food for thought:

"Far from simplifying everything, as 'progressive' rhetoric had promised, 'equality' created a chaos of new rules, laws, and anomalous exceptions, as when 'transsexuals' got into the act. It was often apparent that what 'minorities' were after was not equality, but privileged treatment. Or, in a word, power. The blandly abstract language of equality usually conceals specific interests. Civil rights, it's now clear to everyone, means certain black interests; nobody takes it to mean anything else. When whites hear about a new 'civil-rights measure,' they don't imagine it means their rights are going to be protected; on the contrary, they know instantly that it means further violations of their privacy, freedom of association, property rights, access to jobs, and so forth. Sexual orientation likewise means certain homosexual interests; it doesn't cover, say, guys with a thing for blondes, even if this happens to be a source of 'identity' and 'pride' for them; the government doesn't yet cater to the 'blonde-loving community.' The seemingly universal principle nearly always turns out to mean what's good for very specific groups. The seemingly simple principle can wind up bringing havoc to law and clear thought. One superfluous principle, however noble or innocuous it sounds, can eventually undermine an entire way of life." --Joseph Sobran