We have equalities law in this country because we have INEQUALITY. If there wasn't historic & current institutionalised & systemic inequality then we wouldn't need equality law, imperfect though it is.
But many ppl think that we have an equal playing field, & have taken from equalities language & presence that everyone is the same. This leads to ppl seeing equalities law as UNFAIR. Because many ppl face real suffering, but may not be on a list of protected characteristics.
So they begin to feel that their real suffering, enforced poverty, class discrimination, child abuse, pressure of role & societal expectations, violently neglectful education system etc - doesn't matter, or count & aren't taken seriously as say, racism or homophobia.
As Black & Global Majority ppl are a minority in the UK & lesbian & gay ppl are a minority too, White straight ppl in particular often seem to think that equalities law is about pandering to the sensitivities of a minority, while a great many more ppl are let down without note.
But equalities law isn't about equally crap conditions for all. It's not about saying that people's real suffering doesn't matter, we all matter. It's a blunt way of acknowledging historic & current exclusion, murder, denial of personhood, systemic discrimination.
Being White isn't a source of discrimination, & it has not historically been so here. You won't be discriminated against for being heterosexual & there isn't a history of medicalisation, incarceration, murder, exclusion for being heterosexual.
