Civil Liberties Vs Civil Rights

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The debate between Civil Right and Liberties being violated within the LGBT communities is a long standing debate that cannot be resolved until the federal laws are changed. Per the "Defense of Marriage Act," or DOMA, which was passed in 1996 by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, allows same sex marriages to occur, but prevents them from being recognized by the Federal Government due to "Section Three," in which the federal government cannot recognize any marriages between gay or lesbian couples for the purpose of federal laws or programs, even if those couples are considered legally married by their home state. The other significant part of DOMA makes it so that individual states do not legally have to acknowledge the …show more content…

Civil rights movements in the past have set precedence for racial contentions to be alleviated and have restored the rights of ethnic, disabled, and other classes of individuals within our society. Even though several bills have been proposed by the states and some accepted; LGBT civil rights activist have still not accomplished equality; and discriminatory acts continue to occur. Although the framers specifically outlined our civil rights in the constitution and defined accordingly; the interpretation or misinterpretation of the civil rights vs. liberties throughout American History has been many. Civil rights definition pertains to equal treatment of an individual without regard to age, gender, race or disability status; these rights secure access to education, housing and employment. Civil liberties are broader but are granted and specifically outlined in the constitution in detail; therefore they protect our right to privacy, freedom of speech, freedom from slavery and forced labor, right to a fair trial, right to marry, right to vote, right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of conscious, freedom of assembly and expression. LGBT leaders push for more state and local safeguards, rights advocates are also starting a long-term campaign for a broad …show more content…

The report basically stated since homosexuality is a mental illness, than it would pose a security risk to the world, due to a lack of emotional stability. This was only the beginning of the LGBT community being banned from serving their country; from the early 1900’s through early 2000’s it continued. In 2003 the US Supreme Court ruled that an individual’s constitutional right to privacy, which provided the basis for the Griswold (contraceptives) and Roe (abortion) decisions (O’Connor, Sabot, and Yanus 119) Finally in Jan of 2010, Obama attempted to begin the process of changing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law that openly allowed the US military's 18-year ban on gay and lesbian service personnel. Employment discrimination in the LGBT community is still thriving; per USA Today article 8/1/2015, LGBT leaders say that equality in same sex marriage and parts of the workforce is not all that needs to be done to achieve

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