Thomas Jefferson once said in a speech, “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Equal Rights). This saying states the importance of protecting each individual’s equal rights, but not allowing special privileges to a certain individual or class. HERO is the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance that “prohibits discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics in city employment, city services, city contracting practices, housing, public accommodations, and private employment...” (City of Houston). The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance should not pass in this city because it allows the Mayor, Annise Parker, to abuse her power in office, admit transgender men and women to enter the opposite gender restroom, and the rights the ordinance is claiming to protect is already protected by federal and state laws.
The passing of HERO would express that Houstonians are content with the mayor abusing her power in office. Annise Parker, our openly lesbian mayor, is serving her final term this year in Houston. She has made it her goal to establish an ordinance in Houston that
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It also allows a loophole for registered sex offenders to enter women’s bathrooms on their behalf which endangers women and children. The mayor is abusing her power to push personal agendas upon the city of Houston. The reason this ordinance should not pass and people of Houston should oppose HERO is to show retaliation of someone in office overstepping boundaries; not because the city of Houston is intolerant and discriminatory. The people of Houston should not be content with the passing of this ordinance because it hands out permission to the mayor to push her beliefs to give special privileges particularly to the LGBT community. So opposing the ordinance and voting no on the ballots will prove that the people of Houston will not tolerate any elected official to abuse their
Scott, Wilbur J. “The Equal Rights Amendment as Status Politics.” Social Forces 64, no. 2 (1985): 499-506, accessed February 12, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2578653.
In the article N.C. Gov. Already Enforcing HB 2 with Trespassing Laws by Trudy Ring states that the governor of North Carolina says he will use trespassing laws to enforce the restroom provisions of House Bill 2, while officials of the state university says they won’t enforce the controversial law at all. "We 're using trespassing laws that we were using before House Bill 2, we 're using that now," he told reporters, according to a video. It also talks about a transgender case in Virginia regarding a boy who transgendered himself from female to male and was denied access to the school boys’ bathroom. This essay traces how governor of North Carolina, McCrory uses power, discrimination, and transphobia to deny transgender people the right to use the restroom based on their gender identity.
Despite legislation for equal opportunities, sexism is still evident in the workplace. Women have made great advancements in the workforce and have become an integral part of the labor market. They have greater access to higher education and as a result, greater access to traditionally male dominated professions such as law. While statistics show that women are equal to men in terms of their numbers in the law profession, it is clear however, that they have not yet achieved equality in all other areas of their employment. Discrimination in the form of gender, sex and sexual harassment continues to be a problem in today’s society.
The supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment seem to feel sex discrimination laws are simply not enough. The federal laws and regulations contain many loopholes, are inconsistently interpreted and may be repealed outright (NOW 1). Many supporters claim the Equal Rights Amendment is needed "to clarify law for the lower courts, whose decisions still reflect confusion and inconsistency about how to deal with sex discrimination claims (Francis 2). There is a supporting theory argument that "an amendment of equality would absolutely shift the burden away ...
Democracy stresses the equality of all individuals and insists that all men are created equal. Democracy does not persist on an equality of condition for all people or argue that all persons have a right to an equal share of worldly goods. Rather, its concept of equality insists that all are entitled to equality of opportunity and equality before the law. The democratic concept of equality holds that no person should be held back for any such arbitrary reasons as those based on race, color, religion, or gender. This concept of equality holds that each person must be free to develop himself or herself as fully as he or she can or cares to and that each person should be treated as the equal of all other persons by the law. We have come a great distance toward reaching the goal of equality for all in this country, but however close we are we are still at a considerable distance from a genuine universally recognized and respected equality for all. I will go into more details giving more information and making it clear to understand equality and civil rights for all and it affects everyone.
"Everyone in our democracy deserves to be treated with fairness and justice, and to have that right in our constitution," stated former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson (Eisler and Hixson 419). Presently, half of our nation is not protected under the Constitution (Eisler and Hixson 419). The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was proposed in 1923 when Alice Paul concluded that women, although they had the right to vote, were not specifically protected from sexual discrimination by the Constitution. Seventy-five years have passed since the amendment was first introduced, and women still have not secured equal rights under law. By examining the history of the ERA and the opposition it has encountered, I will show why it was defeated in 1982 and determine if the ERA still has a future.
purpose of the ERA was to prohibit any person from acting on this belief. Alice
Insurance is more expensive for women. Women must serve more time for crimes than men. According to this document there are about 1,795 laws that are against women’s rights as people. Equal rights amendment will bring all sorts of rights for women. According to this document It will help stop discrimination about sex, allow women to have their own credit and benefits, become a legal person under law, and stop law from discriminating against women. This document is important because it shows how far women's rights have come since the 1970s. Women now have the right to get a credit card in their own name. Women have the right to hold public office. Women can now serve in the military and they can also do so much more.The equal rights amendment was the stepping stool for women to achieve rights and freedoms. Throughout American history we see different groups longing to have the stake at American Freedom. Women have had a hard journey to make all the progress they have. This document is not only important because we can see
Rather, it was added to the law by the opposition in an attempt to prevent the law from gaining the necessary vote to be instated. The little discussion concerning the matter of gender discrimination left courts with very little information to assist them in interpreting the law. (BL 348) Today courts generally “have determined that gender discrimination also includes discrimination due to pregnancy and sexual harassment, but not because of affinity orientation or being transgender.” (pg.348) Given with the passing of time, it is also natural for individuals to imagine just how prevalent gender discrimination is in our society but as stated by EEOC’s chairman in 2009, “sex discrimination against males and females alike continues to be a problem in the 21st century.”(pg. 338 – EEOC press release.) Gender itself plays a prominent role in our lives in the form of stereotypes, customs and ideas which are often discriminatory in nature, whether intentional or not. Of the two genders, women continue to be the most affected by gender discrimination and even as the number of woman in high positions continues to grow, they are still a proportionately large number of filled claims. (pg.338-339). According to a report released by the EEOC in 2010, “gender suits account for the second highest percentage of substantive claims brought under Title VII, behind race.” (#9, EEOC
one of the points in the act is ‘An employee asked to work on a Sunday
Ever since the currently Proposed Equal Rights Amendment was created, there has been conflict about weather or not it should be approved. For almost a century, the side that supports the amendment have fought to get it officially put in place. One person writes, “Since 1923, activists have been trying to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which states, ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex’” (Document B). This provides an example of how the ERA would establish a basic idea with a very simple set of rules and end up making a big difference when
Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There has been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way that they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though; people who identify themselves as transgendered. A good portion of society is unknowingly misinformed about these kinds of people.
Within the recent years, the transgender movement has become more apparent than ever. With television shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Keeping It Up With Cait” and “I Am Jazz”, the voices of transgender people are more public than ever. Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverene Cox are changing the face of the movement by showing people that it is never too late to be their true selves. American laws are acknowledging the rights of transgender people, but not in a positive way. These are just people trying to be their best selves. Transgender people deserve to have all the rights that a non transgender person has.
Florida’s, Texas’s and Kentucky’s new proposed bathroom laws have “caused fear and dismay among transgender people around the country” (Tannehill). Kentucky laws are more focused on the school systems but Florida 's and Texas’s laws treat transgenders as if they were criminals. Both of these states have regulations that will give transgenders civil and or criminal charges for using the bathroom they identify with (Tannehill). A transgender could be charged a fine for using the wrong bathroom and “people who report a transgender people in the bathroom to claim civil damages, for example a bounty” (Tannehill). Florida and Texas are trying to look out for the best interest of the majority population, however, “we all have to use the bathroom, but these laws would seemingly force transgender people to choose between fines and jail, risking horrific violence or leaving the state” (Tannehill). These laws have been seen as unreasonable to the transgender community and have been fought by the ACLU lawyer Joshua Block, “We’re talking about people who also have their sense of privacy and modesty, and who are not going to want to have everyone see an anatomical part of themselves that they feel should never have been there in the first place,” (Marcus). It has also been found that it’s illegal for employers to carry out such rules, “The Equal Employment
We have a right to equal well-paid employment, to equal opportunities. The right to vote is an important weapon. And now the Family Code has been passed, restoring to the most humble of women the dignity that has so often been trampled upon. (Bâ 61)