As soon as President Obama announced his support for marriage equality earlier this month, pundits and Republican strategists started speculating that the president's pro-equality stance would cost him among Latino voters. They figured that most Latino voters are Catholic, therefore they must be willing to vote against the President because of his support of marriage equality.
This is not first and probably not the last time that that these "experts" make guesses about how my community feels about social issues with hopes that we won't pay attention to the other attacks on Latinos. I'm happy to say that they are wrong. A poll released in April found that Latinos are more supportive of marriage equality than Americans as a whole.
As a community that has fought and continues to fight against bigotry and discrimination , we understand how dangerous it is to pick and choose who deserve equality and respect. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to working for immigrants' rights and workers' rights understand the core American value of equality under the law. A better country for immigrants is a better country for all. A better country for gays and lesbians is a better country for all. We're all in this together.
The anti-gay Right thinks that it can divide Latinos, African Americans and LGBT people by exploiting mutual resentments. They're wrong. There are just as many LGBT people in our communities as there are throughout the country. We too have gay and lesbian hermanos y hermanas, friends and children. Their fight is our fight for justice and equality.
I was thrilled this week when my brothers and sisters at the NAACP announced their public support for marriage equality. The Right's efforts to divide us just won't work.
The gay rights movement is working for many of the same basic rights and dignities that those of us in the immigrants' rights and labor movements have been fighting for decades: workplace rights, economic security, access to opportunity. The gay community has been a strong ally for us in the quest for public policy that treats all people with respect and dignity. We will continue to do the same for them. Con la lucha,
Sí se Puede!
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The major difference that illegal aliens and their advocates miss is that the Gay Rights Movement and the Civil rights movement were and are all about AMERICAN CITIZENS RIGHTS. The Civil Rights Movement was not about giving people from Africa the right to come to America as they please or stay illegally based on being black. It was about ALL AMERICANS, regardless of color, being treated equally. Similarly, sexual preference has nothing whatsoever to do with nationality, (unless you are in Rhodesia). And neither are about allowing people to violate laws they disagree with, no matter where they are from.
The fact is, not being citizens of the US and here without permission as well, there is no movement by US citizens that is or was even remotely related to their cause.
If the cause of illegal foreign nationals and their supporting nations to gain more-than-equal rights for border-jumpers won't stand on it's own, it really won't stand at all. Since the US is not in the habit of rewarding lawbreakers, it will always be a very hard sell to the American Public.
will never be divided
"...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."
There is nothing that indicates any restrictions, qualifications, or exemptions to what a person is.
You forgot to add the first sentence. Nice try. They have to be citizens!!
None of these (well except that the second did specify men, which was appropriate for the time) has any limiters on it. Nothing saying "as long as you are a citizen". Nothing saying "as long as you are the right skin color". Nothing saying "as long as you are the right version of a religion". And nothing, in the first and last, with respect to gender, or gender orientation.
A simple statement was made by a reverend, Baptist I think, and of African descent I am sure. "Equality for some is an oxymoron". Simple, but profound - equality is only equality if it applies equally to everyone.
It was only in the last century that all citizens began to gain the same rights.
And according to the courts, illegal aliens don't enjoy the same protections and freedoms as citizens. But that is true of any country.
Keep in mind that 24% of the CITIZENS in Arizona are of Hispanic descent.