Whose Rights?
More than two hundred years ago, the founders of the United States of America successfully defeated the British in the Revolutionary War. Many fought and died to achieve freedom from the excesses of the Crown. The event that best illustrated our independence was the drafting of the Constitution of the United States. It was the document that contained the plan for this nation's future. It provided the directions for the management of the country with carefully crafted protections. Protections that were to ensure that the new government could never in the future become so powerful as to be able to infringe upon the rights and freedoms of the citizens. The framers of the Constitution added the Bill of Rights to ensure its ratification. The Bill of Rights, containing the first ten ammendments to the Constitution, served to explain the specific rights and freedoms granted to the citizenry. The first ammendment is probably the most treasured and most often cited. It prohib!its the government from tampering with our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or our freedom of religion. The Constitution was a landmark document; nothing like it had e
Bailey, Michael J. , and Richard C. Pillard. "Is Sexual Orientation Biologically Determined? Yes." CQ Researcher 3 (1993): 209. "Gays in the Military: Two Experiences." CQ Researcher 3 (1993): 199. Other questions regarding the reasons for homosexuality are harder for the "biological reasons" crowd to answer. When asked to explain why, if homosexuality is inborn, do some homosexuals give up that lifestyle and become heterosexual, they have no quick answer. Furthermore, the idea of bisexuality really defys biological explanations. How can someone be born with both sexual preferences if sexual orientation is not a behavioral choice? Dr. John Gonsiorek, a psychologist specializing in area of sexual orientation writes: Of course those who wish to benefit from special civil rights legislation want us to believe that being gay is, in fact, not simply a choice of behavior. They claim that people are born genetically predisposed to being gay. Experts have even done studies that claim to show biological evidence that people are born gay. Dr. Simon LeVay, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, conducted one such study. Dr. LeVay discovered that a part of the brain, the hypothalmus, in gay men was over two times larger than that of heterosexual men ("Issues" 197). The homosexual community touted this study as biological proof that homosexuals are physically different from heterosexuals. If it could be shown that homosexuality was physiological instead of behavioral then the case could be made for inclusion in the Civil Rights Act. Another study was done that seemed to lend credibility to the idea that homosexuality is inborn. J. Michael Bailey and Richard C. Pillard, professors of p! Hatch, Orrin G. "Should the Senate Approve S. 2056, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act?" Congressional Digest 75 (1996): 267+. Spidel, Justin. "Who Should Have the Right to Marry?" Crucius 109-111. sychology and psychiatry respectively, studied many sets of identical and fraternal sets of twins where at least one twin was gay. What they discovered was that 52% of the identical twin sets were both gay while only 22% of the fraternal twin sets were both gay (Bailey 209). These studies have been the primary evidence used by homosexuals to convince society that they have no control over their behavior. Unfortunately these studies lack the credibility needed to put the issue to rest. "Gays in the Government." CQ Researcher 3 (1993): 202-203. "Aids Discrimination: Federal Employment Statutes." Congressional Digest 75 (1996): 261. Nickel, Jeffery. "Everybody's Threatened by Homophobia." Crucius 527-530. "Employment Nondiscrimination: Major Provisions of S. 2056." Congressional Digest 75 (1996): 264. This very basic, flagrant discrimination continued for a very long time indeed. As the nation grew, the people began to remove some of these barriers to equality. First, the nation adopted a Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, and later amendments gave former slaves and eventually women the right to vote. These amendments did not, however, eliminate discrimination. It was not until the Civil Rights Movement of the late 50's and early 60's that the nation began to deal with discrimination substantive ways. Congress began seriously addressing discrimination by passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964, prohibiting employment discrimination against individuals based on their race, creed, color, gender, or national origin ("Nondiscrimination" 260). Over the next ten years, Congress
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Approximate Word count = 2384
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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