"This is a very basic consumer-protection law and it is also a very basic civil-rights law, " said Mr. Mintz.

WSJ: City Hits Sex-Based Pricing

If the right to -- if the opportunity to enjoy the same rights, same-sex couples or straight couples or whatever, is a basic civil right, how can you square that with saying we leave it up to the states?

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The struggle to make the provision of basic education in the United States more equitable has been an important domestic political issue since the civil rights and anti-poverty movements of the 1960s, and it was reinforced by a school finance reform movement that emerged in the early 1970s.

UNESCO: II Part Analytic Section

Since the governor's tax plans for teachers were unveiled last month, the state's school system has been placed under scrutiny after a civil rights' group filed a lawsuit claiming that the state was failing to provide the basic provisions of education.

BBC: Teachers reject tax exemption