"You are wrong. Dead wrong."
Depends on whom you ask. Rehnquist, Thomas, and Scalia, for example, have said the equal protection clause applies only to race. The liberals on the court want to apply it to everything. Like I said, you're sounding like a liberal.
Thomas cites the equal protection clause in his dissent in this case as the justification for why the 5th ammendment applies to a state action. It is only through the 14th ammendment that this is a US SC issue at all.