Six score and eighteen years ago, the American states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America saying that
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of minorities groups who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. Woman, people of color, minority ethnic groups and religions, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered, the disabled, and many other groups were all given hope.