🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4jtkbl$j0k@nyx10.cs.du.edu>,
Paul Ciszek <pciszek@nyx10.cs.du.edu> wrote:
>
>Is being a member of a protected class a constitutional right?
>Should constitutional rights be contingent on race, gender, sexual
>orientation, etc.?
>
>I ask this because I am denied membership in any protected class
>because of my race, gender, and so forth.  (I am male, caucasian,
>and hetero.)

Actually Paul, you are protected.  If you work for a gay black woman who 
fires you (or refuses to hire you in the first place) because she has a 
hate on for straight, white men, you have every right to file a civil 
suit claiming breach of your civil rights.

Laws aren't written to say "a person can't be discriminated against 
because they're black."  Rather, they indicate that one can't be 
discriminated against on the basis of *race*.  Any race, including 
caucasian. 

The one exception is Amendment 2.  It specifically outlaws claims of 
discrimination on the basis of *homosexuality*, while still allowing 
claims of discrimination by straight people.  This is the *only* example 
I know of where a law makes one group a "protected class" over another group.

If someone denies you housing because they hate men, or Irish people 
(assuming you were Irish), or United Methodists (assuming you were a UMC 
member), you can claim discrimination.  YOu don't have to be a minority 
for your civil rights to be breached.

>SO:  Either being a member of a protected class is NOT a constitutional
>     right, or I am being denied a constitutional right because of my
>     race, gender and sexual orientation.
>Which is it, folks?

See above.  The "protected class" arguement is a straw man created by CFV 
for the purposes of passing their amendment, just the same as the 
"special rights" red herring.

Elusis
      ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
     + "Your blood's on my hands/It's kind of a shame, 'cos I did like    +
    +     that dress"  T. Amos                                           +
   + "out of the ash i rise with my red hair & i eat men like air" Plath+
  + "Be purple, obsequious, and clairvoyant"  Steve Martin             +
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++