A (Slightly Sarcastic) History Lesson

20th Sept 2011 : The ban on gay men and women serving in the military is repealed

18th Nov 2003 : Massachusetts becomes the first state to allow gay couples to marry

July 2000 : Vermont introduces Civil Unions for gay couples, but these are not valid recognised by other States or the Federal Govt.

1984 : Mississippi ratifies the 19th Amendment (The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.) despite it being law for nearly 64 years.

6th Aug 1965 : Black men and women regain the right to vote in the USA

2nd July 1964 : Civil Rights Act signed in to law grants equal rights and bans discrimination based on race, creed or colour.

10th June 1963 : Equal Pay Act (1963) signed in to law granting equal pay to women

28th August 1920 : 19th Amendment ratified, granting women the right to vote.

12th Jan 1915, 30th Sept 1918, 10th Feb 1919 : The government votes against granting voting rights to women

3rd Feb 1870 : 15th Amendment passes granting voting right to everyone "regardless of race, colour or previous condition of servitude". This worked so well it only took another 94 years to fix the problems with it.

9th July 1868 : 14th Amendment adopted saying that every citizen of the United States should be treated equally under law.

6th Dec 1865 : 13th Amendment outlaws people keeping others as slaves.

1st Jan 1863 : Lincoln gives The Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves

4th March 1789 : Article 1 Section 3 of the US Constitution says that black people are only worth 3/5 of a white person

4th July 1776 : In rebelling against British Control, The United States Government makes the following statement :-

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Before anyone goes off on a rant in the notes section, I am not suggesting that Britain is any better. Or that any other country is any better. The UK has a lot of flaws in the way it has done things in the past and the way it does things now. And, if anything, it is probably going to get worse before it gets better, especially given the potential rise of the right, far right and really far right parties. 

But I have always found it amusing that – given the large amount of rhetoric spouted by a large amount of Americans about how their country has freedom, their country showed the rest of the world what it meant to be free and equal, that their country threw of the shackles of British Slavery to form a more perfect union – the history of the US seems to be one group of people denying rights to another group until the second group gets too strong and eventually forces the issue. 

Then again – maybe it’s just me who finds that funny and worth noting 🙂

Edit (06/05 00:55) While looking up all those facts, I was quite surprised to see the huge change in American politics since it was founded. Most of the early defeats in the various equal rights legislation came at the hands of Democrats voting down the ideas while Republicans supported them. But then – somewhere around the middle of the list – everything seemed to undergo a massive change with Democrats moving to the left and Republicans moving to the right, until now it is pretty much the exact opposite of the start. 

I am kind of curious how that happens. Did they just decide to change names? Did one party decide to swap sides and so forced the other one to do the same so they had someone to be mean about? Did the entire Republican Party just wake up and think "Hey – we’ve had enough of doing nice things, lets be nasty to women, blacks and gays"? Did the Democratic Party have a huge realisation that they were – in fact – acting like dicks?

Like I said – it just makes me curious.