The Voting Species

Whether it was the blood spilt in the jungles or poisoned for an assault on the genes, the inter-species battles had been won. While there were still bloody arguments yet to come, most ambitions could now be channelled into the political arena where humanity's prejudices would be aired under the cloak of its assumed superiority! But thanks to the continuing heroism of a few, bigotry and corruption would be fought all to way to the Senate and the law courts through the next stage of evolutions design, alien rights!
It would be the cut and thrust in the courts that determined whether or not there was a case for allowing other intelligent species to be classed as people! Only then might evolution unfurl its more peaceful path to interspecific survival.
There would be broader questions: What were the war and trade implications of the epigenetics evidence that showed that some aliens had moved a little further along evolutions intelligence trail? Would humanity ever be confident enough to accept this reality; and break free of the mutations that told them that life was all about the survival of the fittest?