The 14th Amendment

Lately a lot of people give lips service to what is known as the "Equal Protection Clause" of the 14th Amendment. Most notably in the last few years it is the basis for most lawsuits in regards to forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and is what we in favor of same-sex marriage point to in our fight for equality. It is used by other people and groups who often win there cases while we lose ours.

People are always saying that the "Equal Protection Clause" doesn't apply to LGBTQ people. They have various reasons for why it doesn't apply. The two most common are 1) that the founders didn't intend for it to protect people based on their sexual orientation. Anytime people start talking about what the founders intended I have to laugh. I always wonder exactly when they sat down and had a conversation with the founders. And 2) that sexual orientation isn't a protected class so it doesn't apply to them.

People could not be more wrong with either of these arguments and it proves that either they haven't read the 14th Amendment or they are counting on the majority of the population never having read it. (There really should be a required course in middle school and/or high school on nothing but the Constitution.)

Anyway, just so people know the 14th Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868. Which is actually almost 100 years after the Bill of Rights (that would be the first 10 Amendments) was ratified. Which means a whole other group of progressive forward thinking people were behind it. Also it was ratified long before there was such a thing as a "protected class" in this country.

There's five sections to the 14th Amendment. Section 1 being the so-called "Equal Protection Clause" and it reads as follows:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Now that you've actually read it (possibly for the first time) I ask you exactly how do you figure it doesn't apply to certain citizens of the country. Because I've read it serveral times an can not find anything about it only applying to "protected classes". It applys to all citizens. Pure and simple if any one person is granted a protection or liberty then all persons have to be afforded those same things.

It's not that hard to figure out that state governments and the federal government are in violation of this on a daily basis. And that the courts themselves are constantly violating. Which makes me wonder how many of those judges have actually read the Constitution.