Marsha Lucero
Professor Jennifer Strong
English 1101
03 Mar 2015

Unjust vs. Just Laws Unjust laws have made criminals out of innocent people. Laws implemented during the Civil Rights era, such as segregation, made it illegal for people of color and white people to share the same water fountain. It was also illegal for any colored person to sit in front of the bus because those seats were reserved for the white people. Naturally, those with a conscience felt it was necessary to tear down the walls of segregation, which only resulted in brutal beatings from police or being thrown in jail. So then, why break the law? Because it’s human nature to act according to one’s conscience, regardless if one’s actions are deemed illegal by the government. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by Martin Luther King, Jr. defines unjust and just law, which can be used to argue that prohibiting same-sex couples to elope in marriage is unjust. Some would argue that permitting same-sex marriage will ruin the sanctity of marriage, but an increase in divorce rates contradicts that argument. Essentially, just how sacred is marriage when celebrities like Kim Kardashian are getting a divorce after 70 days of marriage or when Elizabeth Taylor can move from one marriage to another. In contemporary society, we change husbands and wives as often as we change our socks. The point is prohibiting same-sex marriage is unjust because like segregation it, “distorts the soul and damages the personality (256).” Secondly, prohibiting same-sex marriage is an unjust law “that is out of harmony with the moral law (256).” To deny someone the basic right to love whomever they want to love, is immoral. If same-sex couples want to show their love for each other through marriage, then they should be allowed that basic right. Not only are same-sex couples being denied this basic right, they are