John Kerry - Talks About Discrimination, Equal Rights, and Civil Rights

[angrydemocrat]

Some people including, unfortunately, the president of the United States- argue that recognizing the rights of gays and lesbians in effect confers special privileges on them. That's just another way of saying that the law will be blind to discrimination if it is based on sexual orientation, and that's simply wrong.

No law can make people approve of gays and lesbians if they believe their moral code forbids them to do so, although as a Christian, I believe that this is the and every other form of discrimination is opposed to the spirit of the Bible. But if law cannot command approval, it can demand respect, and that's what I'm calling for in supporting equal treatment of gays and lesbians in employment law and employee benefits, in the right to form domestic partnerships and civil unions, and the right to raise children.

My attitude toward offering special measures to outlaw discrimination is probably rooted in the experiences with Americans disabilities. These date back to my first adult advocacy work and to a subject that is still one of my passions: recognizing the debt we owe to our veterans, especially disabled ones.

Determining precisely what special measures are necessary to ensure equal opportunity is sometimes a difficult process, but it is often a matter of common sense. Some years ago at a public meeting in Massachusetts, I encountered a small group of disabled retirees who spent part of the winter in their RV's down in Florida. They explained to me that the handicapped parking access licenses issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts weren't recognized in Florida or in many of the states between Boston and Tampa, forcing them either to go through multiple application processes, be hit with with tickets, or painfully make their way to restaurants or bathrooms from the closest available space (which might be quite a distance away). I asked my staff to investigate the the issue. We discovered that there was a national system for reciprocity in the handicap parking permits. I introduced legislation in the Senate to set up such a system and led it into law. Now nobody thinks twice about it.

Should that sort of special measure for a defined category of Americans be thought of as a privilege that other Americans might resent? I think not. Ending discrimination should never be considered a special measure, it should be our common duty as a society.

I feel strongly about extending equal rights to every American. I feel even more strongly about guarding against backtracking on civil rights. The ongoing effort to roll back affirmative action in colleges and universities and in the workplace has so far been rebuffed by the Supreme Court. But we're only one appointee away from seeing this campaign succeed. Of course, some employers and some universities have used a poorly tailored or hamhanded system of preferences that appear to transfer opportunities from one group of people to another instead of expanding opportunities for all. President Clinton got it right: We should mend, not end affirmative action.

I am equally concerned about particular threat we now face to a womens right to choose. Although they don't often discuss it in mixed company, President Bush and the Republican Party are committed to an especially harsh policy of reversing Roe v. Wade. Some are actually seeking to prohibit abortion and, for that matter, the use of certain birth-control measures by what they call a Human Life Amendment to the United States Constitution.

You do not not have to believe in the existence of the right-wing conspiracies to recognize that there is a clear if quiet understanding between George W. Bush and the right-to-life activists that he will do everything possible if the Supreme Court openings occur to add the estimated two judges it will take to achieve their desired result.

From my point of view, respecting equal rights of citizens is not simply a negative exercise in stopping discrimination or removing artificial obstacles. It's also a positive exercise in engaging Americans in the responsibilities as well as the rights of citizenship. That's why I believe that reviving democracy in our country depends on a much more active concept of citizenship. Citizenship should be more than the fact of birth or immigration status, it should a call to service in self-government.