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Inquiry Final Draft

James Goodson
Emilia Grant
Due: November 17th
Human Rights in the United States
The word united is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as: involving people or
groups working together to achieve a common goal. It goes without saying that the United States
is not so united as it conveys. Homosexuals are not allowed to marry in all 50 states,
transgender and transsexual people arent even recognized as people in the workplace, and
women are not even paid equally, or even have the right to their own bodies. This is outrageous.
Currently thirty-three of the fifty states of the US have authorized same-sex marriage
(Statewide Marriage Prohibitions). Now, this subject is making great progress in the States,
however, it is not all fifty, so this is still an issue that needs to be addressed. In the workplace,
many trans people are discriminated against harshly, it is completely legal in thirty-five states for
a trans person to be fired for simply not having a heteronormative gender identity because there
are no laws prohibiting discrimination of people based on gender identity in those states (State
Wide Employment Laws and Policies). Finally, women are not paid equally in the United
States, in fact they are paid about 18% less than men for the same amount of full-time, yearround (FTYR) work, and they dont even have the rights to their own bodies from a legal
standpoint. An abortion is a medical decision made by a woman, just as plastic surgery is, and
yet no one goes into uproar when someone wants to change their given appearance. As stated
earlier, the United States arent as united as people believe; people, due to the way they are
born, are discriminated against over marriage, in the workplace, and even their own bodies. If the

word united is defined as people coming together to work towards a common goal, these
groups of people are being treated as if they are sabotaging the common goal, which they
arent.
It is no secret that people are all different. People like different things; sports, books,
games, television, colors, so why is it that when a person comes out and says that they are
attracted to the same-sex, people think of it as completely different? No one will fight another
person over the superiority of the color red against blue, nor will they prohibit anyone from
watching a TV show like American Dad! when they believe that Family Guy is the better show,
or even the right show to watch. People are different from each other in many ways, and the
human race has been generally accepting of most of those differences, so again, why isnt sexual
orientation just another difference between two people? Well, humans love to stick to the way
things were in the past, especially biblical times. The fight against marriage equality is backed
supremely by peoples fixation on marriage in the Bible. People claim that same-sex marriage
offends God, as stated in an article 10 Reasons Why Homosexual Marriage is Harmful and
Must be Oppossed:
This is the most important reason. Whenever one violates the
natural moral order established by God, one sins and offends God.
Same-sex marriage does just this. Accordingly, anyone who
professes to love God must be opposed to it. Marriage is not the
creature of any State. Rather, it was established by God in Paradise
for our first parents, Adam and Eve. As we read in the Book of
Genesis The same was taught by Our Savior Jesus Christ

Genesis also teaches how God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for
the sin of homosexuality (#10)
It is very clear that this way of thinking is extremely detrimental morality and even to the
human race. If God acted the way that he did with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah now, then
he would have to burn a lot of major cities around the world, not just the United Staes (i.e. New
York, San Francisco, Boston, London, Chicago, Paris, just to name a few). Its very clear that
this form of religion is extremely detrimental to the United States. Homosexuals, bisexuals,
asexuals, pansexuals, and heterosexuals are all people; and things like sexual orientation should
not be hinders for people to be with people that they love. Marriage is not meant for procreation
as many believe, it is not just for heterosexuals, and it is definitely not for God; it is meant for
two people, regardless of gender, who love each other, because love should become before all
else.
Getting a job is hard enough as it is, for anyone, but if you identify as another gender, or
dont identify with any gender binary at all, you may not get a job at all in most states just
because of that reason. Trans people may also have to hide their identity from an employer, just
to be hired, but if that identity is discovered, they can be fired just for being trans. This is in
every way morally, ethically, basically wrong. In thirty-five states, out of fifty, there are no laws
in place that prohibit the employment discrimination of people based on their gender identity
(Statewide Employment Laws and Policies). These people can be fired for absolutely no real
reason at all. Reasons for terminating an employee can be stealing, misconduct, fraud, but it
shouldnt be acceptable in for an employer to write down, on their termination forms, is actually
a boy as a reason for termination and it be taken as a legitimate reason. It isnt an actual reason

to terminate someone. In an article by Crosby Burns and Jeff Krehely, they had several exemployees speak out about their discrimination like Vandy Beth Glenn:
[My boss] told me I would make other people uncomfortable, just
by being myself. He told me that my transition was unacceptable.
And over and over, he told me it was inappropriate. Then he fired
me. I was escorted back to my desk, told to clean it out, then
marched out of the building. I was devastated.
Even if a trans person is hired, it is very likely that they will have to endure plenty of
harassment in the workplace, in fact ninety percent of transgender individuals have encountered
some form of harassment or mistreatment on the job (Burns and Krehely). Trans people are
going through plenty of hardships when it comes to their identity, but when it comes to their
employment, they may not be able to live adequately just because of their gender identity, and it
is absolutely disgusting that most of the population of the US is perfectly okay with that. Again,
thirty-five states are okay with this.
Women are obviously very important to the ascension of the human race. Women are
needed in reproduction at the very least, however they are perfect capable beings, with
aspirations just as high as a mans. Woman can do all the same work as men, and mentally
handle a lot more. However, currently there is a wage gap between the two sexes. Women, as of
the 2010 Census, are being paid 81% of a mans salary. This makes utterly no sense because a
man isnt smarter, stronger, or more capable than woman, just because hes a man, so why is
there a gender wage cap? Well a lot of it is unknown, really, however, much of it is due to
gender discrimination. Not only are women not being compensated equally, they are being
denied the right to their bodies. Abortion is deemed legal by the Supreme Court (Roe v. Wade)

however, abortion is still being combatted by legal bodies and pro-life activists. What makes this
fight against abortion utterly pointless is that the decision has already been made on the Supreme
Court level. Also, generally, pro-lifers fight for the life of the fetus but deny well-fare for those
who actually need it and refuse to let abortion be covered on insurance plans. This makes no
sense because if a woman cant afford an abortion, that means she cant afford a pregnancy, and
she definitely cant afford raising a child. The fact of the matter is, women have the right their
own bodies. A woman can do what with her body as she chooses, it should not be decided by a
room of middle-aged white men. Its no surprise that its the Republican Party who are doing the
damage to women. Just two months ago, every single Senate Republican voted against equal pay
for women (Ryot). Also, it is in the Republican Partys platform that they support the pro-life
movement, which unfairly regulates womens bodies (GOP). Women are fundamentally on the
same level as men, there is no real superiority.
As Dr. Seuss once said, A persons a person, no matter how small. This statement
needs to be true in the United States completely. Homosexuals, and all other members of the
LGBTQIA+ community must be treated with all amounts of respect that a cisgendered
heterosexual male is treated. There needs to be laws prohibiting workplace discrimination for all
types of people, including gender identity and sexual orientation. Women should be treated
respectfully as well, in the workplace with equal compensation, and they should have the right to
their own bodies. The United States is far from being a united nation, so the image that shows off
the US as the greatest country in the world is a fallacy simply because it isnt. People of
different orientations and genders arent treated equally, thus not making us a united country, we
are truly a divided nation. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party should not be two

opposing forces that seek control of all congressional movements; they should be two bodies,
united to achieve the common goal of making America better for all people, not a few.

Works Cited
"United." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
"Maps of State Laws & Policies." Human Rights Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
"The Human Rights of Women: Advancing Human Rights." UNFPA. Demand Media, n.d. Web.
22 Oct. 2014.
U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Women in the Labor Force: A
Databook, December 2011 Report 1034 (accessed 4 July 2012)
"10 Reasons Why Homosexual." TFP Student Action. N.p., 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Burns, Crosby, and Jeff Krehely. "Gay and Transgender People Face High Rates of Workplace
Discrimination and Harassment." Name. N.p., 2 June 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
"Every Republican Voted Against Equal Pay." Ryot. Associated Press, 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 16
Nov. 2014.

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