Special rights

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Special rights is a political term originally used by libertarians to refer to laws granting rights to one or more groups which are not extended to other groups, such as affirmative action or hate crime legislation with regard to ethnic, religious or sexual minorities. More recently, social conservatives have used the term to refer to measures that either mirror rights for gays and lesbians that already exist for heterosexuals, such as in the case of same sex marriage, or extend anti-discrimination protections that exist for other minority groups to sexual minorities as well. This term is used internationally, for example "Sonderrechte" in Germany.

In many situations such as employment (in the European Union and the United States), as well as housing and public accommodations (in the United States), it is illegal to discriminate based on gender, race, religion, and other attributes. Some states and localities outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in certain circumstances, but many do not. The European Union forbids such discrimination in employment, but not in regard to other matters, though some member states do.

Minority rights advocacy groups often contend that such protections confer no "special" rights, and describe these laws instead as protecting equal rights.[1] The differing vocabulary (some might say rhetoric, though these views are often deeply held) thus mirrors the political disagreement.

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[edit] Libertarians

Libertarians, who believe in a minimalist or limited government, believe that any laws which impact specific groups of individuals are "special rights".[2]

[edit] Social conservatives

The term is especially popular with social conservatives, who often use it to refer to rights extended to sexual minorities (who they believe exhibit immoral behavior), and seldom in reference to rights extended to other minorities (with whom they do not associate a particular moral stigma).[citation needed]

Ralph Reed, Republican political strategist and former executive director of the Christian Coalition, which opposes the extension of rights to sexual minorities, said "No one should have special rights or privileges, or minority status because of their sexual behavior. We don't have it for people who are polygamists, we don't have it for people who have affairs on their wives or husbands."[2]

There are two common definitions of the terms civil rights. Technically rights guaranteed to all citizens of a state are the civil rights of those citizens.[3] In common American usage, civil rights refer to minority rights.[4] Conservatives would contend that homosexuals do not meet either criteria; they are not being deprived of their rights as citizens: right to vote, right to bear arms, right to a jury trial, etc.; and they are not a minority in the classic sense. Minority rights activists disagree, arguing that homosexuals are a minority and that the right to marry is a fundamental human right of all people.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Articles

[edit] References

  1. ^ Offensive Terminology to Avoid. GLAAD. Retrieved on 2006-05-30.
  2. ^ The National Libertarian Party (2004). "National Platform of the Libertarian Party"
  3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  4. ^ Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary ISBN 0-7607-4975-2
  5. ^ Are Gay Rights Civil Rights? Julian Bond, Board Chairman, NAACP [1]
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