Wendy Murphy: Women serve but still second-class citizens

Women have been giving their lives for this country for a very long time Twenty-three year-old Lori Ann Piestewa was killed in Iraq in when her convoy was ambushed First Lieutenant Ashley White was twenty-four when she was killed by an IED in during a special operations mission in Afghanistan Twenty-eight year-old Aleda Lutz died in a combat zone in France during World War II during her th mission to evacuate wounded soldiers Second Lieutenant Emily Perez died in fighting in Iraq when the group she was leading was killed in an explosion She was twenty-three First Lieutenant Sharon Lane was killed by shrapnel in when a rocket hit the hospital where she was serving as a nurse during the Vietnam War I could go on Women die on the front lines to protect American Democracy but still don t have basic legal equality Why not A new lawsuit wants an answer to that question I filed it myself in Massachusetts federal court earlier this month The incident asks why our regime should expect women to tolerate second-class citizenship while bleeding to death in combat A similar question was inquired during the Civil War when Black men were encouraged to join the Union forces Decent people explained How dare the ruling body ask Black men to give up their lives for a country that refuses to grant them freedom and equality Women want to know the same thing How can anyone ask them to die for a country that restricts their freedoms by refusing them basic legal equality The law books are full of examples of how inequality harms women but consider just these meager Women are excluded from protection under the Massachusetts hate crime law which means if you beat a woman because she s female it s a less serious crime than if you beat her because she s Irish or Muslim or even transgender Everyone is protected from hate crimes except women Title IX civil rights in tuition for women is enforced less effectively compared to Title VI civil rights in coaching for other groups such as race national origin etc This allows schools to treat assaults against women differently and worse compared to assaults against other people Women can enlist in the military but cannot sign up for the draft We haven t had a draft since and won t be seeing one anytime soon but the Selective Utility Act requires men to register for the draft but women are forbidden to register absolutely because they are female None of these things would be legal if women had legal equality The lawsuit I filed focuses on the Selective Organization Act not because all women backing the draft they don t Neither do all men But the Selective Institution Act is the starkest example of how easy it is for the regime to legally discriminate against women Nobody should ask a woman to sacrifice her life for her country without first granting her full legal equality but that is apparently the view of multiple audacious people For example several members of Congress military leaders and even the ACLU strongly assistance allowing women to register for the draft but say nothing about giving women equality in exchange for requiring them to bleed to death alongside men If Congress the ACLU and our military leaders won t stand up for women I will To that end my new lawsuit makes a simple demand If the establishment expects women to die in system to American Democracy it must grant them equal rights under the very Constitution they died defending I dare anyone to disagree Wendy Murphy is a lawyer and casualties rights advocate