Civil Rights Paper #1 Revision
{Highlighted portions are new additions}
In the early 1960’s there was a movement for African Americans to gain their civil rights in America. Following this movement, there have been several movements for groups of Americans to also gain civil rights. This poses the question: what are civil rights and whom do they apply to? Through the duration of this semester, I have been given several chances to reflect on whom the modern civil rights movement applies to. As this semester comes to an end I have not changed my overall views on civil rights, but rather solidified my definition of them. I believe that civil rights apply to all people of every race, gender, sex, and sexual orientation, and America’s laws should be kept completely separate from religions and faith communities.
1. Who civil rights apply to.
{From Paper #3 The real fight for same-sex marriage is a struggle for achieving equal protection, which was the premise of the modern civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was meant not only to give black people their well-deserved rights that were promised in the constitution, but also to lay the foundation for future social groups to achieve the same level of legal and social equality that was granted to African Americans. Currently, same-sex couples do not have to same level of equality that heterosexual couples have. There are several benefits for married couples that “exclude us [same-sex couples] from the rights that legally married couples enjoy and even consider their constitutional right” (Gay RP 77). The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that, “no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (14th Amendment). This amendment was originally intended for the assimilation of freed slaved into American society. The struggle for same-sex marriage is a group of people who are being denied their constitutional right to equal
Cited: "First Amendment." LII. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. "14th Amendment." LII. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. "It 's Personal." Marriage & Civil Unions ». N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. KANSTROOM, DANIEL. "On "Waterboarding": Legal Interpretation And The Continuing Struggle For Human Rights." Boston College International & Comparative Law Review 32.2 (2009): 203-221. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.