Philadelphia Blog Response - Katie Petersen

The Fourteenth Amendment states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. In simple terms, the 14th Amendment guarantees "equal protection of the laws".  In the movie Philadelphia, Andrew Beckett is fired because he contracted AIDS. This act is illegal and simply dehumanizing. Andrew Beckett felt entitled to his own privacy and has every right to keep his medical information private. Andrew Beckett's employers claim that firing Andrew was justified because he didn’t inform them of him having AIDS. It is illegal under the federal law to discriminate against an employee based on his or her medical condition with regard to employment decisions. Thus, the firing of Andrew Beckett was illegal.

Obergefell v. Hodges was a legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, that state bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same-sex marriages duly performed in other jurisdictions are unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Same-sex couples now had the right to marry due to the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause. The due process clause in the constitution prohibits the state and local government from depriving people of their life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken. This means that anyone in the United States is granted the same rights regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc.