The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans.

The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The laws of a state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances. The equal protection clause is not intended to provide “equality” among individuals or classes but only “equal application” of the laws. The result, therefore, of a law is not relevant so long as there is no discrimination in its application. By denying states the ability to discriminate, the equal protection clause of the Constitution is crucial to the protection of our civil rights.

Supreme Court Decisions:

Romer vs. Evans:

In 1992 Colorado citizens voted to adopt an amendment to the state constitution known as Amendment 2 that repealed all local ordinances banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Amendment 2 also prohibited all state or local governmental actions designed to protect homosexual persons from discrimination.

On May 20, 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court by a 6–3 vote ruled that Amendment 2 violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Lawrence vs. Texas:

On June 26, 2003 in a 6-3 ruling, the justices struck down the sodomy law in Texas. The majority held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

This is our single message as we march on Washington on October 11, 2009. We seek equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.