I’m trying to get my head around @ChazMaz’ argument. Let me see if this covers it.
If we know what causes a different quality in a person, such as race, we should treat that person equally.
If we don’t know what causes a different quality in a person, such as sexual orientation, we should hesitate to treat that person equally.
OK, so if I do that, I should test this theory out and think about things that make people different.
Alright, we know what causes people to have brown hair, so they should be treated equally. OK, it holds up.
Alright, we don’t know what causes people to be cancer victims. Hmmm. So, because we don’t understand why some people have a disposition towards cancer, we should hesitate to treat them differently.
OK, so the FIRST sentence holds up to scrutiny, but the second one doesn’t. But there is only ONE difference between the first sentence and the second…the second sentence is just the negative version of the first sentence…the only thing that has changed is the subject of the sentence has changed from race to sexual orientation. Yet, if we replace the subject in the first sentence, it makes sense…if we replace it in the second sentence it does not. All other things being equal about these two sentences, the only material difference is the subject matter, ergo, something is wrong with the subject matter being part of that sentence. It seems to only apply to one particular subject. So, let’s break the sentence down a bit, shall we?
If we don’t know [LACK UNDERSTANDING ON OUR PART] what causes a different quality in a person, such as sexual orientation [WHAT WE LACK UNDERSTANDING OF], we should hesitate [FEAR TAKING ACTION] to treat that person equally [FAIRLY].
It seems this espouses an idea that we should fear things we don’t understand, and we should allow our fear to justify the denial of equal rights. Back when we didn’t understand genetics and what made one person white and one black, I’m sure they put the word “race” in that second sentence ALL THE TIME to justify it. Did that make it right? Are you REALLY saying that we can’t treat all people with equal human rights if we don’t understand what makes them different from us? Because if you are, let’s start taking rights away from Cancer patients right now.
But if you only want to apply the standard in that second sentence to things you both fail to understand and actively fear, then you are afraid of those things, in this case homosexuality, ergo, you are a homophobe, and should try to sell your hate somewhere else, because the people here ain’t buying.