The Fourteenth Amendment and Marriage Equality – Virtual
Abstract:
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments slowed (but hardly eliminated) the pervasive racial discrimination that was a principal cause of the Civil War. The principle of equal protection is embodied in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and in general prohibits governments from passing laws that treat citizens differently without good reason. Racial discrimination has always been viewed under strict scrutiny by the Supreme Court, and other groups have successfully challenged federal and state laws as being indefensibly discriminatory. State laws have historically limited marriage to marriage between a man and a woman, yet over time more and more Americans began to challenge this conception of marriage and demanded marriage equality that allowed equal access to the benefits of marriage for same-sex couples. A series of legal challenges to state laws eventually resulted in the Supreme Court affirming the Constitution’s protection of marriage equality under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Essential Question:
- Should marriage equality be protected by the Fourteenth Amendment?
Materials and Documents
“I felt heard for the first time in a long time. I actually got to speak about something that I truly cared about.”
Looking for more information?
Please contact us with any questions you may have about any of our programs or would like additional information.