FREE ESSAY ON AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Throughout modern American culture certain laws passed by the majority have been
considered unjust by a wise minority. However, with the logical and emotional appeal of
hard fought battles, voices have been heard, and the minds of the majority can sometimes
be converted to see the truth.
Thoreau, after spending a night in jail and seeing the truth hidden behind the propaganda
of the majority, became convinced that he could no longer accept his government's
behavior of passing laws that benefit the majority with degrading the minority. It's
quite ironic that by the government imprisoning Thoreau he became freer then ever before.
He was able to see how the government turned peaceably inclined men into controllable
machines. Thoreau saw how the government dealt with its citizens as only a body, while
completely disregarding the sense, intellect, and moral beliefs of its people.
In his essay "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau stated that "a government ruled by majority in
all cases cannot be based on justice." He further believed that "under a government which
imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also prison." This point made by
Thoreau can be seen as the truth throughout history. A just man never sits by quietly
watching the majority degrade the minority to suit their own immoral purposes.
Like Thoreau, another just man who stood out from the quiet minority was Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. King was, as well, willing to suffer for his views to put an end to
racial segregation, and was arrested on numerous occasions for holding strong in his
believes and spreading his message throughout the minds of all God's children. 
King often cited conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and disobeying unjust ones.
In an essay written by King titled "A letter from Birmingham Jail," King clearly defines
the interpretation of the differerence between the two kinds of laws. "An unjust law is a
code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does
not make binding on itself. This is a difference made legal. By the same token, a just
law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to
follow itself. This is sameness made legal." To further understand this King quotes from
St. Augustine himself who once stated "any law that uplifts human personality is just.
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." Hence segregation of any people from
anything distorts the soul and damages the personality, so it is clearly unjust.
The battles fought by just men like King and Thoreau have been long and hard. Surely men
like these have left indelible marks of the minds of modern society. Even still the
majority continues to holds a controllable power over the minority, and only through
constant demonstrations and voicing of opinions and reminding of what's morally right can
the minority hope to pursue the majority into passing only just laws
In relation to King and Thoreau's opinions and ideals of laws that are unjust I can think
of no better issue in modern American culture than the rights being denied to
homosexuals. They stand to this day segregated from the majority and denied of the rights
given to heterosexuals. 
The majority of Americans today oppose same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples,
insisting that sexual orientation "can be changed through will power, therapy, or
religious convictions." But mainstream medical and psychiatric professional organizations
have concluded that sexual orientation is innate and cannot be changed, and have strongly
opposed attempts to "convert" gay people to heterosexuality as misguided and harmful.
Even still, those in power to shape the minds and views of the majority whole-heartedly
insist that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured
Reverend Jerry Falwell, who airs a Christian television program and has millions of
devoted followers, states that "God hates homosexuality" and that it is a "moral
perversion."
Pat Robertson, who runs a similar Christian program on television, equates homosexuality
with an "abomination," a "pathology," "Satanists," and even "Adolf Hitler."
Even the Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott speaks out against homosexuality. He
compares it to alcoholism, kleptomania, and sexual addiction.
Sadly these views can have devastating effects on both the majority and the minority.
Organizations have been formed out of hate for homosexuals, insisting gay bashings,
outspoken speeches against homosexuals, and spreading of propaganda to the masses.
As for the affects of all this on gay people its even worse. It's estimated that
somewhere between six and ten percent of the United States population is gay. Yet as much
as thirty percent of teenage suicides are those of homosexuals. In 1997, my sister was
one of those victims, and although my parents deeply mourn her loss, they still insist
that she would have been saved had she continued therapy to convert her into being
heterosexual. But the truth is had they loved her and supported her sexual orientation
instead of disowning her, she would still be alive today.
Although fights to persuade the majority into passing laws that are morally right have
been long and hard, they have not been in vain. Federal law has finally made it illegal
for employers to fire workers based on sexual orientation, as well as landlords who
refuse to rent to homosexuals. But the road to morally right equality is still a long
road to travel. 
Just recently in January 1999, Reverend Don Fado of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in
Sacramento was brought up on charges for unlawfully performing a wedding of church
members Ellie Charlton and Jeanne Barnett. Fado compared the ceremony to an act of Civil
Disobedience, which his church has supported for civil rights and anti-war causes, and
seeks a church trail to force the church to face the acknowledgement of what is morally
right.
The current law prohibiting same sex marriage can have devastating effects. Recently,
Frank Vasquez of Tacoma, Washington, who shared the house, business, and financial assets
with his gay partner for twenty-eight years, cannot inherit his partner's estate. He was
denied any of the $230,000 estate, including the home they shared, because the state's
community property law only applies to heterosexuals. The ruling was ironic because it
contends that gay couples, who cannot marry, lack the legal protections of unmarried
heterosexuals couples who can marry but don't.
Clearly the laws set against homosexuals are morally wrong and unjust. Because of these
laws, countless beatings and deaths, financial loss, and overall degrading of the human
personality have occurred. As King once said, "we have to repent in this generation not
merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence
of the good people." We cannot stand in the shadows letting the majority degrade and
damage the personality of the minority. Instead we must come together and voice our
opinions as one. Only together will we be able to open the eyes of the majority and show
them what must happen in order to completely end segregation. As with any matter in life
we have a choice to stand with the morally right or wrong. Where do you stand?