This 77-year-old senior citizen agrees with President Clinton’s decision to give a speech to the gay community and supports the idea of a law to protect gay Americans from job discrimination.

The right wing says such a law amounts to “special rights.” I heard that same baloney back in the 1950s when they fought against racial civil rights. “Equal rights, not special rights” has unfortunately become their slogan against the gays today.

However, they do not mean it, as is demonstrated by the fact that they oppose the equal right of gays to serve in the military, to marry and even to be shown on television programs like “Ellen.”

They use the threat of “special rights” to persuade voters who would otherwise see their real agenda as rubbish.

A “special right” would be if gays were asking to be exempt from paying income tax or driving the speed limit. The right not to be fired from a job or denied housing is not anything special — it is basic. Gays are singled out every day for “special” discrimination in such basic areas as housing and employment.

They may work hard at their jobs but can be fired simply if the boss finds out through gossip that they are gay. This is unfair, but not illegal in most places. It should be.

There exists bias, and there exists a need to stop it. Put it this way: Banks get special attention from robbers, so police have to pay “special” attention to banks.

If people were angels, they wouldn’t need laws, but people are not. The discrimination must be stopped. Laws are necessary.

Charles Godwin

Davenport