Philadelphia Blog Post- Sarah Parisien

How does what happens to “Andrew Beckett” in Philadelphia violate the 14th

Amendment?

Andrew Beckett, a homosexual man with AIDS was a lawyer in Philadelphia. He decided to hide both of those from his employers due to the fear of prejudice that people who are gay and/or have AIDS get bestowed on them. Andrew was a phenomenal lawyer, who was kind to all of his colleagues, but as soon as the found out that he had AIDS and that he was gay, they fired him. The 14th Amendment says that “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States...nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” By firing Andrew for the reasons they did, his privileges are abridged and further implies that the equal protection of the law, that’s supposed to guarantee him equal rights are being violated because of the way he identifies himself.

How does the advent (arrival) of same-sex marriage speak to “due process” and
“equal protection” under the 14th Amendment?

Within the 14 Amendment, due process is made up of two parts; procedural due process and substantive due process.  Procedural law is supposed to guarantee fairness to all individuals, and the more important that right is the stricter the procedural process must be. This process is guaranteed when someone is denied “life, liberty or property”. The substantive due process normally deals with specific areas, such as liberty or privacy in the states’ jurisdiction. Equal protection is the idea that the government can’t deny people equal protection of its laws. The government must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances. In terms of same-sex marriage, the 14th amendment is supposed to guarantee fairness for all people, yet people in the LGBTQ+ community were discriminated against (like Andy when he was fired for being gay and having AIDS) just because of how they identified. Before the arrival of same-sex marriage, people who identified as so were being denied the liberty that the 14th amendment is supposed to protect, which eliminates their equal protection. Obergefell v. Hodges recognized this inequality and argued for the right to same-sex marriage in court and with that, there was finally protection for people who don’t identify as the “norm”.